Or one can simply *not upgrade* at all. I'm sticking with 8.04.1 LTS
for awhile.

If one's system is fully functioning and there are both repo and
custom apps installed along with all one's personal files and data,
the hassle time required to backup, re-install, and restore the backup
has to be weighed against the convenience of simply using one's system
(and possibly an auto-upgrade as I did earlier this year).

Frankly, I don't understand the obsession with a 6-month release and
upgrade cycle. Incremental updates should be all that's required as
some other distros and FreeBSD, Solaris and UNIX do and have done for
years.

Blowing-away a system to get and install the "latest and greatest"
seems like an extravagant waste of time to me from my perspective of
having used computers since the early 1960s.