Theme Trouble: Need Some Help

I am trying out the Swift theme for my new site here. So far everything seems to be working good except for two things.

1. I now have this bizarre code on the front page above each post.

– and –

2. I can’t seem to get one of the categories I created for my work samples to appear in the top scrolling box.

I have been to the Swift support forum, but because this is a free theme I haven’t been getting much dedicated help there. So now I’m turning to the WP forum for help (if you can).

The theme creator told me to create some samples of my work at 560×120 pixels and then make a new post for them and file that under the category I created for them. Then he told me to go into the homepage settings for the site and choose “categories” for the “featured item”, which holds the content for the scrolling box.

I did all of this, but it didn’t work. Instead the post with my work sample (seowebcopyjockey) appeared on the front page in the content area. That was when the strange code appeared on the front page.

If anyone could help me with this I would really appreciate it.

Thank you.