Hide threads, select page

I'd like to be able to hide a thread I have no more interest in viewing. Sometimes over half the page is full of stuff I'm not interested in. Also, how do I skip to like page 8 of a real long thread that I haven't been keeping up on. Sometimes a really hot thread gets going when I am off for a week and I'd like to skip to the more recent comments.

There's a button on the bottom right that leads you to the last page.

I don't know about hiding threads, but if you go to the first page (http://www.packerforum.com/), and not the forum page (Packer Fan Discussion & Enthusiast Forum), it shows only the recent activity, so if you already saw the threads, they won't be highlighted.