Hi Joseph,
See
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/ofc2000.htm
see topic "Exporting Address Book to make modification in a Spreadsheet"
Basically you go to the address book, use File, Export, as other file,
select CSV file, open that file from Excel.
If you do make modifications to your address book, I would make a copy of your
addressbook (.WAB) and store it offline.