Thumbnail preview code

I have a thumbnail code that displays the last five posts I have made. There is no text on these just images so it’s easy to display but I seem to be having trouble doing a few things with it.

Here is the code:

<?php
$how_many=5; //How many posts do you want to show
require_once(“/home/directory/wp-config.php”); // Change this for your path to wp-config.php file ?>

<?php rewind_posts(); ?>
<?php query_posts(‘showposts=5&cat=2’); ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<div id=”sidethumbs”>
<?php the_content(‘ <more>’); ?>
</div>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php else : ?>
<div class=”editor”>
<?php _e(“No blog entries could be located. If this error continues then please let me know!”); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

Now I have a few questions, I don’t have a single category I want to display, there’s about 200 of them.. is there a way to do an include all except a few categories

Also, is it possible to make these thumbs show horizontally instead of vertical like it is now?

Thanks!