My goal was to use Google as only the conduit. I never want to touch the Google web interface if I have the option. For the "family" calendar, my wife can use the web interface if she prefers, but I want to use iCal and Address Book on the Mac along with the iOS equivalents.

The only reason I'm not doing contacts is because the sync misses data. If I didn't care about that extra data, I'd be on it.

I've never really used a calendar with any sort of consistency before, so I'm going to try really hard to make it part of my lifestyle. As hard as I can anyway. My contact list comes in handy all the time because I don't remember any phone numbers except my home line. It's also great for tracking birthdays which I can't seem to remember outside a few people.