I understand, being a long-time Palm user myself (have a T3 to go along with my 4155). As far as the Close - I use Spb PocketPlus but search Pocketgear or freewarePPC.com - I think there are some free items out there to solve this problem.
Can't help on the notes thing.
As far as Word - get Textmaker. It's really nice, albeit a bit pricey. (Maybe you can convince the office to buy it for you
BTW - the SD card thing - you're right - it is VERY nice. PalmOS5 has not implemented VFS support to this degree (although I hear it's coming in OS6 aka Cobalt)
Hope that helps!