Thanks to all for the advice.
After working with Windows 8 for a few more days, my sanity has almost returned. My wife says the mumbling and cursing have subsided somewhat but I'm still growling occasionally.
I installed the Classic Shell and now find myself switching often between it and the start screen. I also installed Outlook which, as simple as it is, seems to be much better than the standard Win 8 mail, which seemed to have things missing.
I still need help with something that I haven't been able to figure out. If I click on "People", it says I have no contacts. If I type "contacts" when on the start screen, I get a 'contacts' button, click it and see a list of my contacts. If I go to mail or Outlook, there are no contacts. Are 'people', 'contacts' and an address book all different things?
Thanks again to all.