Anyone Here a Paralegal? Or Friends with Paralegals? Or Employ Paralegals? -- Please Spill Your Guts

Like I said, I work at a very small firm and things are a little quirky here, but my duties are:

Paralegal stuff:
- Writing - motions, affidavits, subpoenas/riders, memos, some discovery, some letters. Tidying up documents. Abstracting depositions.
- Keeping up on certain rules of civil procedure, local court rules, judges' standing orders, agency rules. The attorneys don't like dealing with procedural stuff or mundane rules.
- Filing court papers electronically and in person. Occasionally going to court to present a "routine motion" (which doesn't require an attorney).
- Docketing deadlines, hearings, etc.
- Maintain case document logs.
- Some research. I am going to try to do more.
- Keep clients calm and informed. And paying.

Non-paralegal stuff:
Tons of random stuff. Reception, personal errands for the partners, unjamming the copier, working with tax accountants, fixing iPhones and laptops. I'm the go-to "tech guy" here b/c the IT contractors bill hourly. Walk the office dog.

So musicfanatic, what did you decide? Mayor jingleberries and other paralegals still at it? Anybody else want to share?

I'm now finally in school getting a post-bacc certficate and it great so far. I'm at a certain well-respected Jesuit-run university with an ABA-approved program that seems to get a lot of love from employers. Teachers are mostly (all?) practicing lawyers and paralegals. I am fighting the urge to beg one of my teachers for a job at her firm. She's great and the firm sounds really functional.

Current job is hard and the workload is crazy but they are allergic to overtime.

My school is expensive. I just read today that Duke University has an online paralegal cert. program that is only $7,000. That seems like it could be good all around. It's online, but it's Duke, so....