[historydoll]

Thanks for the suggestion, and I think you are suggesting the right approach for me: essentially ignoring the whole Start Date thing unless there really is something that can't be approached until a certain date, which works for me.

What do you do about things that must be done ON a certain day? I imagine I could do the same: use it ONLY for things that have a specific date.

Perhaps the reason I am finding all of this overly complex is that I'm trying to use all of its aspects, including the ones I don't need! (very ADD of me :)