[Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, A] Ticklefish:
Well, your notifications aren't in the center. They're on the right, they just look in the center next to the clock because of the number of status icons.

<LinearLayout android:id="@+id/statusbarleftside" android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Traffic android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Traffic" android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/traffic" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_marginRight="4.0dip" android:singleLine="true" />
</LinearLayout>
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.policy.Clock android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.StatusBar.Clock" android:gravity="left|center" android:id="@id/clock" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:singleLine="true" />
<RelativeLayout android:id="@+id/statusbarrightside" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<LinearLayout android:id="@+id/statusbarinsiderightside" android:orientation="horizontal" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_alignParentRight="true">
[COLOR="Red"]	<com.android.systemui.statusbar.StatusBarIconView android:id="@id/moreIcon" android:visibility="gone" android:layout_width="@dimen/status_bar_icon_size" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:src="@drawable/stat_notify_more" />
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.IconPartitioner android:layout_width="0.0dip" android:layout_height="fill_parent" android:layout_weight="1.0">
<com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.IconMerger android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/notificationIcons" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" />
[/COLOR] <LinearLayout android:gravity="center_vertical" android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/statusIcons" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="fill_parent" />
[COLOR="red"] </com.android.systemui.statusbar.phone.IconPartitioner>
[/COLOR]

The code in red above is the code for the notification icons. And it's inside the 'statusbarinsiderightside' LinearLayout, when it needs to be inside the left side..

As for the problem with the notification text, that's fairly simple. You're missing a LinearLayout end tag.

Change:

<ImageView android:id="@id/battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/ticker" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:animationCache="false" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent">

to:

<ImageView android:id="@id/battery" android:paddingLeft="4.0dip" android:layout_width="wrap_content" android:layout_height="wrap_content" />
</LinearLayout>
</LinearLayout>
</RelativeLayout>
</LinearLayout>
<LinearLayout android:orientation="horizontal" android:id="@id/ticker" android:paddingLeft="6.0dip" android:animationCache="false" android:layout_width="fill_parent" android:layout_height="fill_parent">

Currently your ticker (the notification text) is actually inside the icons layout...which gives you the issue you mentioned.