Yeah iTunes was up to date. There was a problem with a plan change on our account. That was preventing me from activating. Called vzw and got it fixed and now I'm up and running. Posting this from my shiny new phone!
Got mine. Everything went very smoothly. I guess it helped that I already own an ipad. All I needed to do after activating it was restore from one of my back ups. All my contacts, apps, music, and videos came right over.