Slider Sticky Posts Navigation and Front Page Grid

First, tip of the hat to the team for this great theme: it can stand toe to toe with any premium theme.

Second, my queries have to begin with the fact of WordPress 3.2.1 is being used: this is a site which requires certain plugins that are not compatible with the latest version.

1-Sticky posts are not being ignored by the loop
2-Slider navigation is not showing
3-How to make the slider area small with a widget area to the right
4-Easiest way to include a graphic image logo and tagline to align with nav menu
5-How to include images on the menu
6-Post thumbnail needs to show in grid layout

I hope that these issues can be resolved even though the WP version is not 3.3.
Thank you for your help.

Cheers,
Lightfoot