Some blurbs from a nice holiday weekend:

• Verizon Wireless continues to provide perfect service. I've had it for almost 3 months now and have still not called customer service once. (This is mostly appreciated by the friends of mine who know that if there is something to complain about, I will find it.) It just always works. My bill is always accurate. I'm not charged any faulty termination fees or fictitious roaming charges like I was with AT&T Wireless. Verizon Wireless is just there. It's perfect.

• For brunch on 9th Avenue, ditch the crowds outside of Vynl and Eatery and go instead to Julian's. The food is a half-step better and not much more expensive. Vynl and Eatery have great food also, but who wants to wait outside for an hour for French toast?

• How come every time you go shopping for shoes, it doesn't matter whether you're 100% sure of your size--the salesperson still tries to convince you that this will be the time that size 11, and not 12, will be right for you.

• I have now determined that the potatoes from Whole Foods are unquestionably better than those from anywhere else. For some reason, you can microwave a Whole Foods potato and it comes out much more like an oven-baked potato than potatoes from other stores. I don't know why this is the case, but the difference is unmistakable. Also, I have found the avocados at Whole Foods to be perfectly ripe, whereas the ones at Fairway are too hard. I like to support Fairway, a native New York business, whenever I can, but Whole Foods wins on these two critical fronts.