I have the BB 8100. I set a password on it yesterday because I just got a job and I don't want anyone to be able to get on my phone if they find it. The problem is, I thought the password screen only came up when you manually locked the phone yourself. But it's been popping up by itself if I don't touch my phone for a couple minutes. Is there anyway to make it so it only asks for a password when I manually lock it myself?

No, it will automatically lock after a period of inactivity. You can set the maximum timeout to 60 minutes.

I thought the maximum timeout meant how long it permanently locks itself when it runs out of password attempts?

Nope. The timeout is how long the device remains idle before it locks.

If you run out of unlock attempts, then the device simply wipes itself.