Typically, it will default to the last opened folder. If you wanted to do it via a script, then you could create a script that always defaulted to a specific folder.
If you look at the framerate below the preview screen, it’s probably below full speed as well. As the processor can’t keep up, Vegas skips frames to keep you real time in preview. Try pre-rendering and see if that makes a difference. Once rendered, all should be fine.
Since it’s already Sunday afternoon, it’s probably already too late. However, it would be helpful to know the type of camera you shot it with, the type of file, how you got that file into the computer, etc…
You would need to copy and paste the individual keyframes.
You might also try using Pan/Crop to create the movement. Then the movement is on the event instead of the track and you could use “Paste Event Attributes” to copy it to the other events.
I would first reboot with the firewire device turned off. Then I would turn it on and make sure that Windows properly recognizes it. Once it’s properly recognized, I would then see if Vegas can properly use it.