blackberry newbie here. when an alarm goes off for an appointment, or when i get a new email, all i hear is a buzz. i dont know what it is for, and nothing comes on screen telling me why the alarm. how do i change the settings to do this? will this notifier stay on the screen until the next time i turn it on?

You should see the little icons on the top of the screen...a little envelope for mail, little calendar icon for calendar, etc.