query_post in WP 3.0 issues

So, I updated a plugin like I normally do, only to find that the plugin was made for 3.0, and it broke my 2.9.2 built site. I then decided to upgrade the whole site, since I found out the theme was upgraded (modularity-lite Graph Paper Press.)

When I upgraded, the sticky manager plugin didn’t work because it broke the sidebar, and caused issues with 500 server errors showing up on archived pages.

I searched the wp guides/forum, and found that query_post(cat=-1) would complete the task I was looking to do. (make certain categories show up on the homepage, but not others)

Only to find out that query_post(cat=-1) Fixes the issue with the 500 server errors on archive pages, but removes my sidebar from the main index template when rendered to the site. Although it still shows up on all other pages.

Would anyone know how to fix this? Or know of another code to try that might accomplish the same thing?

Site is fotosbyeric.com

Code used in the blog.php app is:

<h3 class="sub">Latest</h3>
	<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
        <?php $i = 0; ?>
        <?php query_posts('cat=-1'); ?>
		<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); $i++; ?>
			<div class="post" id="post-<?php the_ID(); ?>">
				<h2><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title_attribute(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></h2>