How do you manage your contacts?

For years now, I have been wanting a better way to manage my contacts and all their related information. I have debated over and over again about creating an Access database but I really despise Access. I have thought about some of the other free databases out there but that required more thought and work than I wanted to undertake. Plus lets be truthful here and agree that I have had no time to create and learn such.

Then during my extended Christmas/New Year vacation, I was informed by a previous colleague about SQL 2005 Express Edition which is free and available to the public. I considered this and actually thought about starting the project over the break, but never got around to it until now.

I may beat myself up after I reboot my computer or try to work on something else later but for now things seem to be going okay. First of all, I had to download .Net Framework 2.0, which was a bit scary because I had heard all the bad things about it 6 plus months ago and have no clue where it stands today, except there are three versions and I just hope I picked the correct version for my PC. I also learned that apparently .Net 3.0 is in Beta. (I am so glad I don't have to work with those individuals who think the latest and greatest is the best solution.) Then I downloaded and installed SQL 2005 Express and have a running database on my system even if there are warnings about the hardware requirements to run it.

Now back to the question in the title. How do you manage your contacts? How do you keep track of everyone's birthday without creating a separate entry for each? How do you keep track of relationships like spouses and children?

I have tried to load information into Outlook but it has no relationship tree and its hard to maintain individual information for everyone's spouses and children for readily available use. I wanted contact info and calendar events to be connected and it all seems too complicated. Therefore, I have quickly put together a database to maintain contact information. I am not positive of my satisfaction with the layout and normalization of the data, but it definitely is a start.

If you are so inclined to examine and offer feedback, here is a diagram of the database layout. Category is used to define contacts as family, work colleagues, school friends, and etc. ContactType is used to define contact information in regards to work, home, parent, mobile, mailing, and other. Input and suggestions are welcome as it is always good to throw ideas out there.

If you think I am insane or have a better way to manage contacts, please share that as well.