You are most likely reading the blockchain.info wrong.
Bitcoin shows sends as negative amounts when it's from an address you own.
I think you are saying it shows as deductions, and I get that - it's like taking money out of your checking account. But I've got an actual negative balance showing.
2) the transaction balance showed up as minus 11 cents (yes, I tried to transfer the entire amount).
Those 11 cents was probably the 0.0001 BTC transaction fee
Yes. I believe you are correct. But how do I get the balance back to zero? I mean, you can't have a negative balance - if you did that at a bank, they'd charge you an overdraft fee...