One more quick thing:

To any hardcore SysAdmin web developers out there looking for some awesome hosting, check out http://www.slicehost.com. They do Xen-based hosting where you can buy a slice and pretty much do whatever you want to do on it (including doing the OS install, etc, all the nitty-gritty stuff). Definitely not for the beginner, but if you demand total control over your hosting machine and want some awesome packages without signing a ridiculous contract, check them out.

The fact they hang out on IRC is even more awesome. These are the kinds of people that should be in the business.