Widget woes

Hi,

I am trying to create a new widget area for a banner ad but am having difficulty.

Here is my site.

I would like to either put a banner either above the whole container, in the darker blue above the header/logo area.

Or I would like to have a banner that stays above the posts, in the center column.

I have tried to create a new widget area to place the banner in the center column (by placing the new widget area in the HEADER AREA like so: %logo %pages %cats <?php bfa_widget_area('name=My new widget area'); ?>) but it made the latest headline link with the banner ad.

And when i tried to create a new widget area above %logo it simply doesn't show up.

Any help greatly appreciated.