@Jason_Dodd
I'm using Fastmail. Pretty cheap, full-featured, and you can hook up your own domain name to it.
@comcloudway
I've been really fond of Debian lately- very stable and easy to use, it's a basis for a number of other distros, and it's simple to upgrade. Plus- it has the Debian Administrator's Handbook (https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-handbook/), which is a great teaching resource.