I have been using Joomla a couple of weeks now and a few things frustrate me about choosing module positions - I just want to check with you "Joomlexperts" if I am overlooking something...

1. I am using Joomla 3.1. In many of the tutorials and videos I see people get to choose their module positions from a popup window with checkboxes - mine is just a dropdown list - did they do away with that feature in Joomla 3.1? Or am I missing something?
2. Is there any way to remove the module positions of templates I am not actually using form the list of available modules positions? I find it confusing and irritating and I often select the wrong one.
3. Why is it, after say for example choosing the "module position 1" under "My custom template" and saving, that later when I go back and look at the module position assignment it is listed under the dropdown submenu of "custom position: module position 1" instead of appearing to be assigned under "My Custom Template: Module position 1"? That again, feels misleading and confusing.

Joomla is a fairly mature platform, this seems like poor UI design - it doesn't make sense, which is why I am querying this because my assumption is that I must have overlooked something.

And finally, why not have a small iconic/pictoral indication (a page map) of which module position instead of using abstract names? OK, that is maybe getting into ranting territory - I know, I should not criticise GPL software unless I am willing to improve it - but again, maybe such a thing exists and I am oblivious to it.