I'm new to using Maya and I'm kinda confused on some things. When Kurt starts the tut, he has modeling selected under the menu, but on mine, that option isn't available. Is it because I have a different version?

Another thing that confuses me is when Kurt first creates his nurb, it simply appears on the grid below, but for me I have to place it on the grid myself so it's not exactly centered.

I'm new to all this and trying to teach myself so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.