Lessons in javascript for VS2010 ASP.Net project

I am a freelance .Net developer. I have inherited an ASP.Net project written by other developers. The project uses Telerik controls, and a MSSQL Database with NetTiers. I have been working on it for a couple of years, but I have not needed to use much Javascript at all. I do not know javascript programming well at all. I now have a page which requires some fairly simple client side functionality using javascript or jquery, but I'm having a lot of trouble ramping up on it. Specifically, I have an ASP.Net page that has State and County combo boxes, a text box for search terms and a "search" button. When the user presses the button, the code-behind initiates a search which displays a progress bar (Telerik) and then eventually displays a paged grid with some further selections. This much works, but there are some basic problems with the UI: (1) When the user presses the search button, the comboboxes, text box and search button need to be disabled. Currently, they remain enabled, which could be confusing to the user. (2) It can take several seconds before the progress bar actually starts showing progress, so we want a message to be displayed immediately (just text on the screen, not a pop-up), letting the user know that something is happening. I have not been able to get the message to appear. (3) Once the search is complete, the texts box and search button will need to be reenabled so the user can try another search. (4) I'll want to add a "new Search" and a "Cancel" button to reset the page or return to the previous page, respectively. I know in principal what needs to be done, but I'm obviously doing something wrong. I can't get any of it to work. I don't get any error messages, but my javascript functions don't do anything and when I set breakpoints, they don't get hit, so I can't tell what's going on. I have several javascript and jquery books, but I find that I read for hours and hours without getting the questions answered that I need answered. I have been unabled to find the information I need in the books or on the internet, probably because I don't know what I'm missing. I don't want someone to do this for me; I need to learn how to do it myself. Also, the project is large and requires Telerik controls (as well as other controls) and a database. The client does not want me to give access to the entire project to other developers. So I would like to do this over the phone (or Skype) and we can use LiveMeeting to share my desktop. I need someone who can speak and understand English well. An accent is OK, but I need to be able to communicate. I need someone who is comfortable programming javascript in a .net project in visual studio 2010 to spend probably some hours with me on this to work through the issues. If we get to a point where I know what to do, we can go offline for a while while I do that on my own and then we can pick it up later. Just give me a bid that allows for 2 or 3 hours of your time maximum and that should work if you know the subject and we can communicate. If we need to extend it or if I want more help on other things later, we can work that out.