5. ‘Mass Effect’ on consumer confidence. Arguably the most anticipated video game to come out this year (I’m still holding out for Fallout: New Vegas to debut later, but I have a suspicion it will be delayed into early 2011), Mass Effect 2 is supposed to be a fun mixture of action and plot, spaceships and aliens. But, for many gamers, it’s only a big tease. Apparently, the game was built so that text in the game (which for those of you who have played the first Mass Effect know comprises about 80% of the game, with the other 20% being about evenly split between sleeping with non-player characters and fighting robots. Obviously, a successful video game if I’ve ever seen one), wouldn’t be readable on anything but a high-definition television. At first, I’d be willing to dismiss this as a simply error by a video game maker usually renowned for their work… but then I realized that this game was manufactured by Electronic Arts. The same company responsible for the travesty known as NBA Live ’07. The same company that has created every failure of a game I have ever owned (well, maybe not really. But it seems like it). We should have seen it coming.

What you should have learned: Electronic Arts needs to work on their quality control. I know that Mass Effect 2 was made primarily by BioWare, but it doesn’t take EA off the hook for their past glitches, disc failures, and relatively broken games.

4. The V-Day that has nothing to do with the Second World War. Valentine’s Day was this past Sunday, and I was expecting it to not be very exciting for a single guy like me. In fact, I expected it to be the worst day of the year so far. Call me an optimist, right? But, outside of the free chocolate to free condom balance being out of whack (for the record, zero free piece of chocolate to fourteen – fourteen! – free condoms. If there is anything more telling of the state of current romantic thought in our generation, I have yet to see it), I had a great Valentine’s day. Why? Instead of getting caught up in the “horror” of being single on a day for couples, I spent the day in the company of friends, having fun.

What you should have learned: Next Valentine’s Day, if you should find yourself single and without a date, move past the depression of “Single Awareness Day” and on to having a normal Sunday. And if that means doing homework for several hours, those are the breaks.

3. Sometimes, you just have to throw up your hands and leave. Democratic Senator Evan Bayh has announced his decision not to run for re-election at the end of this year, citing a growing frustration with the partisan politics in Washington. Calling Congress “dysfunctional,” Bayh said that Congress needed to make wholesale changes to how they did business. “We need some real reform here… the public’s business is just not getting done, and at a time of desperate need for our country,” Bayh said. “We’ve got to vote out the ideologues who are unwilling to accept half a loaf rather than none, and we’ve got to vote out the partisans who care more about their political fortunes than the country.” I would like to applaud Senator Bayh on his courage to stand up to both parties currently controlling Congress and to say what everyone knows but remains unsaid: our legislative system is broken beyond repair.

What you should have learned: The days of consensus and healthy debate are over. Intense partisanship is in, and there isn’t really any going back. So, for those expecting a higher quality in their government, look elsewhere. Find those like Senator Bayh and vote people like him into office. If there’s any direction in which we could start, it would be with honesty.

2. So long, Stoudemire. With the least-memorable All-Star Weekend in recent memory in the rear-view, the NBA trade deadline is nearly upon us. And, according to several sources, Suns’ forward-center Amar’e Stoudemire is all but gone from Phoenix. Having been a fan of the Suns for as long as I remember, the significance of this is not lost. There are three Suns players that people who are my age hold in the highest esteem: Shawn Marion (long gone – traded for Shaq two years ago), Steve Nash (who the Suns will NEVER trade… hopefully), and Amar’e. Nash would always be the face of the Suns, but Amare was the heart. The glory of the days of ’32,’ the heartbreak of two arthroscopic knee surgeries (from which we were told he would never recover. Ask what the name “Penny Hardaway” means to Suns fans and you’d have an idea of that despair realized). Amar’e represented the roller coaster ride that is being a fan of this team; the hope, the despair, and the look towards the next season. It’s going to be hard watching the team without him. What an athlete means to a team sometimes goes beyond that contract, that height, that set of statistics. Amar’e will someday have his uniform and number raised to the rafters of some other arena, but he will always be remembered as a Sun.

What you should have learned: To read the rest of this blog, you must be an ESPN Insider™. Please pay the author of the blog twelve monthly payments of $19.95, or go to a different sports blog to receive roughly the same information.

1. Bertram’s Campus Dining Rankings! So, it really isn’t anything you can learn, but blogs are about 90% opinion and 10% learning to begin with, anyway. With all the talk about the quality and options available on campus, here are my favorite places to eat.
1. Chick-Fil-A
2. Mein Bowl
3. Gateway
4. Corbrizo’s
5. Subconnection
6. Pizza Hut Express
7. Jamba Juice
8. The Hot Spot
9. Starbucks (I don’t drink coffee, which should explain this ranking)
10. Everywhere else.

What you should have learned: Food is awesome.