Personally Ive been mining with Scrypt.cc for a few weeks now and have had great experiences. I also have some GHs at PB mining, but I heard that the whole gig was fishy, so I decided to not sink a whole lot of BTC into it.
I've made a little BTC from day trading on CEX.io and enjoyed that for a while, but it was just not economical. Im working on trying to daytrade at scrypt.cc though I am not very good at this point, Its been a great learning experience.
I also own a measly 1 MH on a scrypt rig, but really wish that I had known about these sites before I invested in it. This would have handled alot of conversations with my roommate about the powerbill and saved me a ton of hassle.
All in all, its kind of a new hobby for me, where mining used to be (as its all kind of plug and run). I'd say the hardest part is the patience required for payouts, though it is quite nice to get the 50 min payouts with scrypt.cc

I really appreciate the links you guys have posted, though, definitely something to look into.

And if anyone is interested in throwing a ref my way, my address is below
http://scrypt.cc?ref=babVG