If you're unwilling to get OUT of the Windows mindset, unwilling to UNlearn the bad practices and inefficient ways of the PC, you may want to consider taking your Mac back and sticking with a PC.
The Mac IS NOT A PC and until you really understand this you're going to be frustrated.
To answer your latest questions:
1. the dock is by default on the bottom, so the right side of the dock is the side that is closest to your right hand. You'll notice a small dividing line that separates Application icons from Folder icons. Folders can only be placed on the right portion. Once the folder is there, it by default becomes a "stack," but if you right-click on the stack you get the options to change it back to a folder and other things.
2. Stop putting files on your desktop, that's silly. Whenever you come across a problem like this one, STOP and think to yourself "what would be an elegant solution for this problem if I were designing this OS?" That will usually lead you to the correct answer.
In this case, you have a Home folder (as does every Mac user). It's even got your name on it, you created it yourself when you first turned on the Mac and answered those questions. If it's not already in your Dock, you should open the hard drive, open Users, and drag it from there to your Dock (this doesn't actually move the file, it creates a "shortcut."
The files and folders should be put into your Home folder in the appropriate category (and you can create category folders if you like). You'll still have one-click access to everything, it just won't be all cluttery anymore.
3. Check out my essay, linked below.
