• I love looking at my Verizon Wireless minutes. Since I get unlimited Verizon-to-Verizon calling, I use an extremely low number of peak minutes. My plan has 400 and I don't even come close. Currently, for this month, only 12.9% of my minutes have been peak minutes. The average over the last two months has been around 14%. That's not because I don't use my cell phone during the day; it's because just about everyone I know is also on Verizon. I don't understand how anyone is not on Verizon Wireless.

• I also love the distinct New York City group psychology evident in situations like this: at the Fairway prepared foods counter, someone yelled, "Did they call 19?" The sign said "18," and not one of the 20 people waiting answered. In addition to the general inclination of New Yorkers to mind their own business unless absolutely necessary, I think there was a sense of, just read the sign. Or, we've all been waiting here; you should have been waiting, too.

• A friend was on Cape Cod this weekend and reports that the trees do not have any leaves yet. Pretty crazy. Well, the wind has been coming off a 45-degree ocean for the last six weeks.

• The bars No Idea and Nowhere should merge because they both cause confusion when the question is "Where'd you go last night?"