SOLVED. At least I think so. Before doing what JeffYang-MSFT suggested, I brought up my Outlook client. It was in Outlook Today, where I usually keep it when I'm not using it. Instead of clicking on the "Calendar" link at the top of the Outlook Today screen, I inadvertently clicked on the calendar icon in the side toolbar instead...and my preferred calendar came up, surprisingly. So I decided I would test this a bit. I backed up to Outlook Today again, clicked that icon again, and my preferred calendar came up again. Backed up again, THIS time I clicked the "Calendar" link in Outlook Today. AHA, NOW I went to a blank calendar. Backed up again to Outlook Today, clicked the toolbar icon, blank calendar came back up. Went through my process of selecting my preferred calendar and closing the blank calendar. Then backed up to Outlook Today. Clicked the sidebar icon again, my preferred calendar returned.
So it looks like clicking on the "Calendar" link in Outlook Today is now defaulting you to the "Local Outlook Data File" calendar regardless of which calendar you used last, whereas clicking on the Outlook sidebar calendar icon takes you to the last calendar you were using.
I don't know if this was intended in the last update or not, but I KNOW it wasn't like this before, I used to be able to click either one and have my preferred calendar come up. And for the record, I don't care for it working this way now, but at least I found a workaround. Thanks again!