OP Here:

I have studied 2 years of Greek and Hebrew and some Aramaic. The more I learned of these languages the more I realized how good our own translations are. All the modern translations are good but I do have two recommendations. New Living Translation is the best reading bible. It just is well written in sentence structure and word choices. New Revised Standard is the best "study" translation. To me it has the best "word for word" though I must say my old Hebrew teacher HATES this version's Old Testament version's word choices. (For example NIV translate the Greek word SOMA (flesh) sinful nature, I have an issue with that. In the Old Testament there are similar things that are merely differences in opinion) As a Linux and Open Source (Free Software) person I hate these copyrights so there are a few open license projects that I haven' dug into yet.

(Also) Not the OP, but the Holman [http://www.hcsb.org/] has become my translation of choice.

As mentioned by other, the NASB and the ESV are also both good choices. I really like the NASB for study, but find the language choices make it a little jarring (compared the ESV or HCSB), so I tend not to use it for regular personal reading.

Not OP either but:

If you want to read the Bible smoothly there's the NLT (New Living Translation) reads very nicely for today's day and age. There's different translations for different purposes, I enjoy reading many of them. If you want to read the New Testament from a different source (most translations use Greek) there is Aramaic New Testament in Plain English (from the Peshitta Script written in Aramaic) which clears up some confusing verses in the New Testament. Such as the famous camel through the eye of a needle becomes a rope passing through the eye of a needle which reads clearer.

Not OP, but if you want faithfulness to the original languages, English Standard Version is really good. New American Standard Bible is also good.

The NIV gets a lot of flack for not being terribly accurate, but for a translation that tries to strike a balance between reasonable accuracy and good readability, I like it. It definitely does smooth over a lot of difficulties in the original languages (see, e.g., its indefensible confusing of what exactly the Midianites and Ishmaelites are getting up to in Gen. 37:25-28), but just know that going in.