Coding Practices, 2 - Database Abstraction

I know there's a lot out there about different class systems for database abstraction. What do people use? I'm just an amateur, but I'm curious what real "Power Programmers" use. So, if you think you're one of the elite, or you just decide to respond, let me know your strategies for coding. Do you use PEAR or one of the other hundreds of libraries? Or, do you just use standard functions, i.e. mysql_query($str), to minimize overhead?

To be fair, I'll share, too, although you may not take much value in it. I've been using Windows, but I'm looking for graphic version of Red Hat to load on a crappy PC I got ahold of. I'm running Apache with MySQL database. So far, I've not used PEAR or other classes in favor of straight function calls - less for the overhead concerns and more so I am familiar with what the code is doing.

I have seen pear used more than anything else, but I have never done anything more than consolidate database related code into objects so if i have to later I can change just one class