Hi mmw1125, and welcome to AF
I haven't used Go for a while, but my guess is that it's something to do with themes. Have you tried looking at the theme/customisation settings, changing theme or customising your own (though bubble style is determined by the theme IIRC).
I know the app has a few "modes", which turn on or off some of the fancier features. So if you just use it for SMS (no "Go Chat" or whatever) you could try one of the simpler modes, see whether that makes a difference.
In the last resort, there's always Handcent, Chomp, Pansi, or the Note's built-in messaging app (or try out Sliding Messaging, which I've seen recommended but can't test on my device).
Edit: Ah, got distracted while typing and Mike ninja'd me
