Wow.

Based on Thomas' recommendation I downloaded the trial of Adobe Lightroom 2.0 and I think this is going to become my favorite new editing tool replacing Photoshop. It's pretty easy to get some nice results very quickly -- see above before and after. While the toolset is more accessible to mere mortals compared to Photoshop the user interface still needs some work, though (starting with the Import dialog -- Windows Live Photo Gallery still has the best, IMO). I've got 29 more days to make a decision but based on some quick run throughs this is a keeper.