Thanks for your insights.

I also have a DynDNS account for my Linksys/DD-WRT router. And I agree on having DNS configuration decoupled from my other servies - years ago I used to run my own bind server.

I don't want to sound cheap, because $30/y is totally affordable, but providers give you DNS for free (zoneedit, dnsexit, freedns, ..) - I'm trying to figure out which one is liked best on HN. But I'll note the DynDNS option, because you are right in saying that 30 bucks for a good service is next to nothing.