Shared hosting isn’t a silver bullet by any means, but when you compare $4.95 per month against even the cheapest dedicated host, there is at least on order of magnitude difference in price. When my blog starts earning a 3 figure monthly income, I’ll probably go dedicated myself, but (especially when I’m on the road) I don’t want the hassle of maintaining my own internet facing hosts over DSL.

You pays yer money, and you takes yer choice! ;-)

Sounds like a cool plan. Although i have to admit i am a bit weary about Dreamhost (or rather, shared hosting in general), considering your blog often seems a bit slow to load, and of course problems sometimes appear such as the memory one you just experienced.

Personally i use a VPS at the moment, although i am thinking of changing to something a bit more low cost since my plan’s for it have changed somewhat (although i suppose i could run a game server on it, haha).