Do any of you have a Minecraft server that I can build on?

I found Minecraft about a week ago, bought it, and I love it. I’ve been trying to set up a server and so far it seems successful, but I really like building with other people on their servers and creating towns and whatnot. Does anyone have one that they can share with me?

Bonus question: Is it possible to create multiplayer servers on peaceful mode? Call me a wimp, but I prefer to play on peaceful so I can focus more on the building and mining aspects. However, when I created my server and tested it, even though I had it set to peaceful, hostile mobs appeared. I hate skeletons. Is this just a Beta bug or am I doing something wrong?

PS: I’d like to build with you guys. I live in Eastern Standard time, in case I share a timezone with anyone.