I notice that my network manager works continuously while I am
wifi connected to my Verizon router to see if there might be a
'better connection'. It knows I also have an ethernet card
that's not being used.

There is a syslog entry every two minutes presumably documenting
this surveillance without comment. Probably noting to itself
that I could be doing better, but apparently I'm not.
I'm hoping this wasted effort is not somehow a security flaw,
advertizing my location or disclosing some important detail about
my setup, unbeknownst to me.

I can't imagine this is a performance problem, happening every
two minutes, but it is unnecessary. Is there some way to
instruct network manager to lay off this dead-end activity?