encripted in e-mail attach

that would mean the encrypted wallet would reside on my ISP's server.  would i really want to leave it there?

So do you true-crypt --> email?  Or some other encryption method?

why?  which ISP's do u consider unsafe?

For backing up your wallet.dat, I suggest encrypting it and then using ssss, an open-source implementation of Shamir's Secret Sharing Scheme:

http://point-at-infinity.org/ssss/

With this, you can split your backup into, say, 5 sites, and require that any 2 (or 3 if you're more paranoid) are required to reconstruct your wallet.dat.  For a given number of backup sites, you have a trade-off between loss protection and theft protection.

Has anyone else used ssss besides me?

I had GoDaddy account, but had to close it due to downtime and tech support incompetence. My personal view is that company is useless.
There is a detailed post by Vladimir about backing up your wallet: https://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=5194.msg75733
What I personally do is use cascade encryption. Truecrypt has a way of encrypting data with three algorithms. If data is encrypted you can keep it anywhere. The only problem then becomes retrieving it and that's up to you and your imagination where to store it. I keep a copy of my encrypted wallet on a few of my computers, dropbox, gmail, few friends have usb sticks that i gave them and few other places that I would not want to reveal. Now I know, that whatever happens, I'll still be able to retrieve my keys from at least one of these places.
Also, I think good practice is to use different keys for your everyday transactions and keeping bigger amounts - like having current and savings account.

This is the philosophy of a paranoid man, but it's better be safe than sorry

sorry, i actually mean "update" those backups from time to time?

Safest way I can think of to secure your wallet:

1. Boot from a Live CD with no network/internet connection

2. Install Bitcoin from a new USB flash drive

3. Backup the brand new wallet.dat onto the USB flash drive, so you don't lose it

4. Send your BTC to the first address that is generated by the new Bitcoin installation.

The most useful point I'm trying to make is, a Bitcoin wallet never needs to contact the Bitcoin network EVER, and you can still receive bitcoins into it.  With no network contact, there is absolutely no risk of compromise.

When ready to spend the bitcoins, simply restore the wallet, let the block chain download, and the coins will appear.

I have a weekly unencrypted backup going to my home server.

Oh, and I only have 3 BTC.  Probably makes a bit of difference when deciding on how often/securely one needs to back up. 

IF I ever have enough bitcoins to be worried about them, I will put my "savings account" wallet on a CD-R (or two) and put it in a safety deposit box (or two).

The neat thing is, you can still send bitcoins to the savings account while it is sitting in that metal box, and they will show up on your client when you get the CD-R out and use the wallet with bitcoin "2020 edition".