What a tease. The weather report, from Punxsutawney Phil:

Phil did not see his shadow on Friday which, according to German folklore, means folks can expect an early spring instead of six more weeks of winter.

Since 1886, Phil has seen his shadow 96 times, hasn't seen it 14 times and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. The last time Phil failed to see his shadow was in 1999.

The weather report, from real meteorologists:

There were some aesthetic things about the site that have been bugging me for a while, so you might notice some changes here and there. The two biggest additions are the enhanced subscription features (see sidebar) and the photo page.

You can now subscribe to the main blog via email – just click the link, enter you address, and you'll start getting posts from the site delivered directly to your inbox whenever I update. Same thing goes for the photo page, which is now set up in a blog format.

Please feel free to let me know if you find any glaring errors with the site, but keep in mind that I've given up trying to code for Microsoft Internet Explorer. You'll definitely notice some weird things if you're still using IE, so if you haven't already, for the love of God, get Firefox!

Okay, by now everyone has heard that the Police are going to reunite at the Grammy's, and possibly launch a world tour this year. Pretty exciting stuff.

Well, it got me thinking about some of the bands that have broken up over the years, and which ones I would most like to see in concert (if it was physically possible – some of the band members died a long time ago). Anyway, here's my top five broken up bands that I would want to see live in concert (if I could):

1. The Beatles: Paul McCartney has said that they weren't a great live band, but come on, it's the Beatles!
   
2. The Police: I would've picked them even if they weren't planning to re-unite. Sting is one of my favorite musicians, and The Police were probably the second-best band of the 1980s (behind U2, of course).
   
3. Queen: Freddie Mercury might be the best rock vocalist of all-time, and seeing him perform live would've been an amazing experience, I'm sure. Oh, and I would want David Bowie to show up for an encore of "Under Pressure."
   
4. Beach Boys: My request would be for them to play Pet Sounds all the way through. They would all wear matching striped shirts.
   
5. Simon & Garfunkel: Well, I clearly missed the boat with the 1982 reunion in Central Park. I guess I was born two years too late.

Honorable Mentions: The Who (with all four original members), Led Zeppelin, and Ben Folds Five.

So what broken up bands would you like to see live, if you could?

Well, I've decided that I'm going to drive to Stef's house tomorrow after all. I just think it'll be fun to see some of her aunts and uncles while they're over at the house, even if it means we turn around and drive back to Lansing on Saturday.

My main goal is to be back in town early enough so I can watch the MSU-OSU game on TV. I know they usually don't show the half-time festivities on TV, but I really hope they have some coverage of the ceremony retiring Mateen's number.

I'm sure that will get the crowd pumped for the second half.

Other than that, Sunday is kind of up in the air right now, but that's a good thing. I need to do some cleaning in my apartment, and probably run some errands that day.

Anyway, that's it for now. Have a good one!

Well, it only took seven years, but they're finally retiring Mateen Cleaves' #12 jersey. I remember saying they could retire his number at the first game of the 2000-2001 season, but I can understand why that would've been a bit premature.

Cleaves was, without a doubt, the greatest Spartan to wear the green and white during my lifetime. His number deserves to hang in the rafters next to the likes of Magic Johnson, Johnny Green, Skott Skiles, Greg Kelser, Steve Smith, Shawn Respert, and Jay Vincent.

Mateen was something special. Just look at this resume:

• Three-time Captain of the team
• 12th on the MSU career scoring list with 1,541 points
• MSU had a 104-32 record during his career
• Three-time All-American
• Led the team to three straight Big Ten Championships
• Led the team to two straight Big Ten Tournament Championships
• School & Big Ten single-season record for assists: 274
• School & Big Ten single-game assist record: 20 (vs. Michigan)
• All-time Big Ten assists leader with 816
• Led MSU to Final Four appearances in 1999 and 2000
• National Championship in 2000
• MVP of the Final Four in 2000

Ah, yes. That game against Michigan in 2000 where Mateen racked up 20 assists was a thing of beauty. Final score: 114-63. The 51-point margin of victory was the largest in Michigan State (and Michigan's) history. And it clinched a share of our third-straight Big Ten Championship. No Spartan fan could ever imagine a more glorious way to finish the regular season. Oh yeah, and we also went on to win the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA championship that year. (Sigh)

They picked one hell of a game to retire Cleaves' number at – our re-match with Ohio State. You know Breslin is gonna be rockin' on Saturday! Man, what I wouldn't give to be there. (Drool)

Anyway, congratulations to my favorite Spartan, Mateen Cleaves!

Go right through for M-S-U...

Whoa, it's gonna be a busy week. I have a meeting with someone at WKAR today to talk about having my work underwrite programming on the station this summer/fall, and afterwards I'm going out to lunch with my dad. Tomorrow I have my dentist appointment at 7AM, and then Thursday I have the Affordable Housing Conference meeting at MSHDA.

Friday and the weekend are a little up in the air right now. Stef is heading home on Thursday night because her aunt and uncle from Texas are going to be in town for the weekend. Teri is going to have this mini Mexican fiesta to celebrate and I've been invited to tag along, but I was originally thinking about going to visit my grandparents on Friday or Saturday. I'm still on the fence about what I want to do at this point, but whatever I decide, I'm sure I'll be eatin' good either way.

Anyhoo, that's the agenda for now. I hope everyone is having a nice week so far! Stay warm out there.

If you didn't watch last night's episode yet, don't click on these links:

• EW: In His Father's Footsteps
• TV Squad: 24: 11:00am - 12:00pm
• TV Squad: WSJ writer applauds 24's 'moral tone'

Last night's episode dragged a bit at times, but I have a feeling the writers were laying the groundwork for some big plot twists in the coming weeks. The stuff with Jack's dad was great though. I have a feeling James Cromwell is going to be a fun character this season.

I'll be the first to admit that I watch a lot of crappy television. That said, there are plenty of "popular" TV shows that I just don't get.

Here's my top five:

1. Desperate Housewives: Who seriously cares about the sexual escapades of these five hags? Plus, is this really a comedy? Has anyone ever busted a gut watching this show?
   
2. Lost: Isn't this just the mutant spawn of Survivor, Gilligan's Island, The X-Files, and 24?
   
3. Heros: Isn't this just X-Men in prime-time?
   
4. The Office (US): It's the equivalent of someone re-making (a less-funny version of) Seinfeld. Sure, it might have a good cast with decent writing, but there's no way it will ever be as funny as the original. Plus, Ricky Gervais > Steve Carrell.
   
5. House: Strike 1: The hospital drama has been done to death. Strike 2: Making the main character a complete prick doesn't make me want to watch it. Strike 3: A dude's nut exploded in the one episode I watched. Eeeeeeew.

(Dis) Honorable Mentions: Monk, The Closer, and CSI (all of them).

What do you think? Are there any shows you just don't "get"?

Well, that didn't take long. Less than a week after getting a belated Christmas gift card to the iTunes store from Sean and Marina, I've burned through the whole thing. The final addition to my music library is... yep, another CD from Badly Drawn Boy.

"Born in the UK" is Damon Gough's latest album, and while it's certainly not his best work (that title probably goes to "Hour of Bewilderbeast," although the soundtrack to About a Boy is still a personal fav), it's still a great record.

The first four or five tracks are all fantastic, and I've basically been playing it non-stop since I downloaded the CD last Thursday.

Ya gotta love iTunes.

Well, after a nine month hiatus, Stef is back to blogging over on her site, stefanie-says.com. Jump over there and check it out!

Here are the highlights from the weekend:

• Finally sold my Lumina to Dan's brother-in-law on Friday
• Went to see Jerry Seinfeld on Friday; it was a great show
• Slept in on Saturday morning
• Finished watching The Godfather Part II during the day
• Went to see Babel on Saturday night
• Came home and watched MSU's nail-biter against Ohio State
• Slept in again today; another pretty lazy day

The Seinfeld show was fantastic. He started off with a few hometown cracks about the "feud" between Lansing and East Lansing. Jerry finally said, "Why don't you just all get together and make one big Lansing?!" Hmmm, good question. Well, if we got rid of East Lansing, there would be no buffer between Lansing and the snobs in Okemos. Zzzzzing!

Anyway, there were too many funny bits for me to remember, but the best line of the night that stuck in my head was this: "Do you think that's why everyone in the Middle-East is so friggin' insane? All that sand and no beaches?"

Oh, Jerry.

Well, thanks again to Stefy for the tickets! I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend!

What a heartbreaker. Still, I'm so proud of this team. Those kids played their asses off last night, and if it weren't for a couple bum calls during the closing seconds, I think we could've closed the deal.

Drew Neitzel proved once again that he is one of, if not the best, players in the Big Ten. There's simply no one else who is as consistently dominant for their team as Neitzel.

Even though they won, Thad Matta got his ass thoroughly out-coached by Tom Izzo last night, bottom line.

Ohio State should be scared shitless after last night's game. We exposed their weaknesses, and I believe MSU will beat Ohio State when they come to the Breslin Center next weekend.

I've never really had a problem with going to see the dentist, especially since I've never had a cavity. Ever. My dentist, Dr. Jankowski, is the same one I've had since I was a kid, and the hygienists are all really friendly.

So, as you might imagine, I wasn't too keen on the idea of having to find a new dentist when my dental insurance kicked in last summer. It's hard to complain about having free dental insurance rolled in with my benefits at work, but I was bummed to find out that Dr. J doesn't take our specific kind of insurance. I had an appointment scheduled for early August last year, but cancelled it so I could start looking for a new doctor who would accept my insurance.

Well, for whatever reason, finding a new dentist wasn't exactly a top priority. I kinda forgot about the whole thing, and didn't do any research until recently.

Interestingly enough, like the situation with my glasses – where I successfully delayed an appointment so long that we actually got a new insurance program at work that covered a bigger slice of my bill – I recently found out that since my dental insurance is sold to us through Blue Cross, they would at least pay for a percentage of my regular checkups.

Last Friday I finally talked to someone at Dr. J's office to see if they could run my insurance card. I basically wanted to get an idea of how much I would have to fork over to get my teeth cleaned. Well, it turns out that BC/BS will cover 100% of my visit after all! So, I scheduled an appointment for next Tuesday, and everything should be a-okay with my dental situation from now on.

Hooray! Score one more for procrastination!