Thanks!

In case anyone is wondering, the code also works if you need to limit results to one category, rather than exclude posts from one category — i.e. it also works for cat=X, not just cat=-X.

$paged = (get_query_var(‘paged’)) ? get_query_var(‘paged’) : 1;
echo $paged;
query_posts(‘posts_per_page=’.$numposts.’order=DESC&paged=’.$paged);

So, oddly enough, I changed paged=’.$paged to paged=’.$page
$page outputted the page you were on. $paged always displayed ’1′ for some reason. So, here is what worked for me…

$paged = (get_query_var(‘paged’)) ? get_query_var(‘paged’) : 1;
query_posts(‘posts_per_page=’.$numposts.’order=DESC&paged=’.$page);

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!