What Davester said about the brakes. IME, Modolo cables are tight, and those are bent/too long anyway. Replace them with jagwires and I bet they'll work fine.
Koolstop makes replacement pads that fit the Modolo holders, in salmon and in black. You have to remove the mounting screw to remove the pads, as it protrudes into a hole in the pad.

I think many of us have experienced some buyer's remorse after buying a bike, only to find that we really like the bike once we get it sorted out. That looks like it's going to be a real nice bike.