Ladies and Gentlemen, It's done and I want to thank everybody who contributed. I've already hit the "Thanks" buttons but wanted to thank you again.
Also, as a brief synopsis for anybody that may read this read at a later time, here's what I finally came up with.
Google Calendar (through GMail) will sync between Outlook and the Windows-based phone; however, since it's not actually Outlook you lose a lot of the things that makes Outlook so user friendly (categories for appointments and contacts for example). If someobdy is just using it as a calendar and they're not as "anal" as I am regarding my phone then Google will probably work and it's free. You'll get your appointments and your contacts but that's it--just the raw data.
For those (like me) who are more structured (some would call me anal) then you're best to go with a True Exchange Hosting Service. I personally went with Sherweb and although their instructions were not as complete as I would have liked or expected I did eventually get it working EXACTLY how I wanted. I did have to call their customer support center twice and had to do a Google Search a few other times to figure out how to set up all three areas (Desktop Outlook, Sherweb Account and the Active Sync in my phone). The end result though was/is exactly what a control freak (some would say moderate OCD) person like me wanted to accomplish.
My suggestion is bypassing Google and going straight to an Exchange Hosting Service such aw
www.sherweb.com.
Again, thanks to everybody that offered suggestions and led me in the right direction.
KCHruby