Ok it seems to never fail that I will sometimes be stumped by something extremely simple. I know the answer is going to be embarrassing.
 
I am using Marine/Ocean. I go to "Home Page Layout" and I turn off languages. I expand the right column. I go to the homepage at /index.php and low and behold nothing has changed.
 
Is there someplace I have to turn on Templating or something?

Hmmmm.... it seems that what is stubborn is the caching. Everytime I make a change to the layout widths, blocks etc I have to close Internet Explorer and reopen it even though I have the caching on IE set for "every visit to the page". Is there server caching going on and I can I turn it off?

Just try to refresh the page. if it wont work clear out the cookies and Tenproary internet files
 
 
Should work

"To reload a page and bypass the cache:
o either: Hold the Control key, and press F5.
o or: Hold the Control key, and click the Refresh button on the toolbar."
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bypass_your_cache

Already tried Ctrl+F5, shift+Refresh, even cleared the temporary internet files. That is why I am thinking it is a server side cache tied to the session. Reopen IE and get a new session.
 
I removed the session files in /tmp and reloaded the page. That showed the changes. It is definately a server side session cache. Not much I can do about that except reduce or remove the time to live of the page or remove it. Thanks for the suggestions though.