Site Redesign

I made this site about 3 years ago, and it hasn't changed much since. Fortunately, I made it somewhat simple, and easy to manipulate, so I could make future changes, which I have. Unfortunately, my website is still a bit behind the time, and needs some updating.

First I need to decide to use the code I already have, or start from scratch. Starting from scratch takes much longer and more planning, but allows for code thats more willing to deal with whatever changes I want to make. If I use my old code, some things may be a bit hack-job, but will let me spend more time on new cool stuff.

I also need to invent some creativity to give this site a little spice, else I pay for a custom design, or find a free template to hack up.

But, for things this site should do:
-look more professional
-more customization for front/landing page
--change order of posts
--change post views on a per-post basis
-friendly-looking urls
-connect to social-networking sites
-better user accounts
-captcha-like user registration form
-a "shoutbox" like something, with captcha
-ajax things

Please comment with more suggestions :)