Nexus s (the original) would have been really nice a few months ago.  This new one looks even better tho, it has a sd card slot i believe??  and 4g (even tho it's sprint it's probably pretty awesome).  I like the samsung hardware, and i guess as a nexus phone it should be set for the next two years as far as updates go.
Good choice.  
Verizon seems to always be like 6 months behind the other carriers as far as introducing cutting edge phones, but the service is the best (at least in my part of the country).