Yeah, using one of the big boring distros really helps to focus on work. I've switched to Fedora for my new box and once the hardware setup was sorted I just stopped messing with it.
I use Slackware or OpenBSD. I completely understand You said (I used RH based distros when I was at Some-Large Commercial Air* in Seattle (it was a joy minus my second set of mgr's)). As much as I dislike using Red Hat*, they are great at what You mention.