For usage Ethereum hands down. With the developer tools and a specifically created touring complete language, also not being value blind opens the door to a ton of future uses. Ethereum is so useful that it probably isn't the best store of value. There is no cap although inflation should decrease to an equal amount being lost and created. They both can exist, bitcoin as a slow proof of work store of value and Ethereum as a useful agile proof of stake with multiple shards.

I am a fan of utility tokens. Most are ERC20 so you can send it to your MEW. Tokens that have a great economy and building usecases and a community. I think Golem and BAT are worth checking out.  Golem is using the token to allow you to rent out your CPU power, BAT is allowing advertisers to directly pay you to view their adds.

MEW is great for cold storage security and usability. It can also hold any ERC20 token which is great. If you want to interact with the ethereum network I suggest also getting Metamask and it works with any Ethereum compatible website including MEW (myetherwallet).

good, not a fan of the coin. Also coinbase has enough trouble as of now keeping up with their current demand

For usability Ethereum is light-years ahead of bitcoin. You can do so much with the system and it is becoming a platform for a ton of other cryptos. However something to note is ether is meant to be gas for the ethereum network. The rules are different, it has a higher level of inflation and no cap. Long term goals are to just maintain the amount based on lost coins.

To me a "bubble" is a good thing in tech to an extent. Sure if you look short term there is risk. However for the longevity of cryptos and blockchains the money brings attention and it will then bring entrepreneurs and developers. This in the long term will bring innovation. Think of it like the internet "bubble" sure we had pets.com and a bunch of scams and a bunch of failures but we also had companies like amazon and paypal. Look at our tech sector now it is booming again. If you are looking to get rich quick and easy sure be worries but if you want to build something great then this is something to relish. 

A pump and dump is a term that describes a type of market manipulation. When "whales" get together to manipulate the market by buying up coins to "pump" the price. This causes people to see this and buy the coin thinking it is going to go up. Eventually the whales sell their coins take the profit and the people trying to make a quick buck suffer. My advice research a coin, the tech, the people behind it, the problem it is going to solve and invest long term. Less stress and you will probably do better overall.

Of course reading the whitepaper. Things I look for are what is the problem they are trying to solve, is blockchain the best answer, how do they purpose to solve it. One thing I always try to clue in for is token economics that means for me, there has to be a reason that people want to put money into buy tokens and a reason why people want to take tokens and use it (convert to fiats or buy things with one day).