It is true that picking a tag could use some improvement since you cannot see all the available tags from the page where you ask questions. I just now added a new tag meta and retagged your question. I was apparently given "moderator" privileges and am able to create tags even though my reputation level is not high enough. The faq shows the required rep for creating tags as 300.

If you don't know the tag you are needing, one possibility is to open another page in the browser to this site and view the tags (it is the "folder" link just to the right of Questions). A single shift click on that link will bring up the list of them.

The reason for requiring certain reputation levels for certain actions (e.g., creating new tags) is basically to try to prevent "drive by" graffiti on the site. So what you did on this question was perfectly fine; pick a tag at random and then we can change it if needed.

And I have a couple of random thoughts about tags. In my opinion, it makes sense to try to keep the number of tags somewhat limited. For example, I would argue that an ms-word tag is not necessary; it seems unlikely that there will be that many "ms-word" questions. We did not have an "ms-word" forum in the newsgroups and nobody seemed to mind. On the other hand, creating an ms-office tag might make sense.

As far as gaining a reputation, the faq talks about it some. But individuals can vote up/down on questions. I have already up voted you twice. My co-workers are a bit more stingy in general with the votes, which I completely disagree with. Maybe I'll start down-voting my co-workers who don't use the vote button. :)

As far as the meaning of life ... I'm not sure. Something about 42. I realized I had done my daughters a great disservice. They had never read the Douglas Adams books! So I introduced them to the books (or vice versa). The older one just finished them and now the younger one is reading them as well. Life is already looking up.