Yet another stir plate question

I've always thought that I was smarter than the average bear, but since I have started brewing beer I am beginning to have some serious doubts. I just completely failed at my first attempt at a yeast starter. Here are my questions:

1) What is the proper amount of water and DME for a 2000ml flask? I know from experience that 1/2 gallon of water and 1/2 pound of DME does NOT fit.

2) How do you pour the DME in to the flask? I tried to use a funnel and pour it slowly but due to the steam from the boiling water the DME clumped up and wouldn't pour. I tried again with the flask off the stove to eliminate the steam but then the DME turned into a concrete blob in the top of the flask.

3) Not a question, more like venting. Being as it is late I finally decided to toss it all away and try again tomorrow. So as I am crushing the bits of DME concrete and pounding them down the drain I get especially frustrated as one piece is giving me an really hard time. So I give it an extra hard whack with the handle of a table knife. And just as it goes through the drain hole I notice that it was my stir bar from the flask. Dang it! Why don't they paint those things fluorescent orange, or at least some type of non-DME color?

1. I use 100g DME to 1 liter/qt of water. Usually, I don't need that amount of head space, but very occasionally I do. In the last 6 months, I've had 2 starters with those dimensions that have overflowed my 2l flask
2. I weigh the yeast out into a measuring cup, dump it into a saucepan, and stir till it is mixed. I then pour from the saucepan through a funnel into the flask
3. Every stir bar I've had has been white. They occasionally end up in the fermenter, but I have no difficulty in distinguishing the difference between a stir bar and a clump of DME

-a.