WP 3.2.1 – Showcase Template active, how to remove sticky post in blog

Dear fine sirs of the internet and WP community.

I’m using Twenty Eleven as theme, with a corresponding child theme to edit things of course. So far I’m happy with a couple of knick-knacks I’d like to have changed. Unfortunately I’m not as good in terms of coding and understanding what the heck is going on with WP (hence my registration).

Today I finally created a Showcase Template page to have some sort of “introduction page” for my future readers, only to realise “dammit, this thing is now working as planned”. Unless I shell out some cash for a way too blown up theme just for creating normal blog entries, I thought “post in here first, maybe the solution is simple”.

Like I said:
– created a child theme with 2011
– created a Showcase Template page
– created a “blank” page for linking the rest of the blog
– customized the “posted on” line a bit
– everything runs fine so far

Things I’d like to change:

1) I do want to change the behavior of the regular blog page however. At the moment, the “sticked posts” are sticked on top, but I want them being removed there (this is what the showcase page is for) and back in order.

I tried to remove the code regarding “if sticky”, but it only removes the “Featured” header and lets the post being sticked. How can I put it back in order but still keep it sticked on the showcase page?

2) Is there a way to move the “left column” of the showcase page to the right side like with the regular pages? If so, where’s the code hidden?

3) how to modify the code to have an “excerpt” or something like that on the showcase page for “recent posts”?

For the time being, here’s the link to the blog – though I don’t want it to be open to webcrawlers for too long, since I’m not really done yet:

Thanks for helping out.