Ha ha of course you can call me nick!
The darkened edges is called vignetting (Excuse my poor spelling!). It's usually a sign of a poor camera/lens but it's an effect some people, myself included, like. I do it in photoshop and it's easy peasey.
1) Open picture
2) New layer
3) Fill new layer black
4) Using the round selection tool select the black image layer so the edges of the circle touch all 4 sides of the shot.
5) Feather the edges by 150 - 200 pixels depending on the res of the original image. (I use elements so I don't know what menu feathering is under in CS2/3)
6) Edit>Cut. You shoul now see your image with a black outer fading into a light centre.
7) Reduse Opacity of black layer to taste.
FLatten image
9) Crank up the contrast a bit.
Jobs a gooden!
Nick