toolbar placement

Please forgive me if it turns out I'm the only one with this odd observation. The placement of the toolbar "control panel, articles, chat, etc..", at the top of the page is awkward (for me). It seems too far up from the area of the site that the actual mechanics and attention is drawn. Also, those small arrows keep making me think that the page is cutoff. I love the tool bar itself and its functionality. Thank you for a great site.