I will go on the record to say I DO NOT like the pop-up. Thanks to this thread, it is no longer bothering me. I wish that they had not put the persistent WiFi on/off in the notifications; I would have rather had it as a toggle setting at the top of the notification bar with all of the other toggles. That's pretty lame, VZW; pretty lame, indeed.
-SR-
PS: Considering how very awesome this phone is, these are definitely minor nits for me. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get bored some day and root it.