Ok.
I think it was my fault? (maybe), because I'm a total nOOb...well, that fact is for sure...

I had my cgminer mining address in between {brackets}.
I just removed the brackets, and I think that makes it valid now?

I have no stinking clue.
The instructions had brackets in there, so I just assumed I had to keep my address in between the stinking brackets.
I can't tell the difference just looking at cg miner, if the pool is recording it or not..
I have no clue. Anyway, I sent you my IP addy, and I mined a little tonight using it. So if you would check the logs for tonight, and tell me if it's recording it, I would appreciate it.
Like I said, if it's my fault, I'll be the first one to admit it.
@ScaryHash
I might suggest a few things for you as you say you're just starting out:
1. Look into adding a "backup" pool in your cgminer configuration as all pools have issues at some point as nothing is static when running a pool. Details can be found in the cgminer readme. (it is as simple as adding another -o -u -p to your parameters passed to cgminer) This way you will not loose "work" should there be pool issues, even if it's only for a few minutes, it's better to have that work get counted somewhere.
2. When you setup a pool if you don't see your stats increasing within 10 minutes, check your config. Something should show up within that time frame.
3. Hang out on IRC Chat (Freenode), you can learn a lot in real time watching the various channels. (#bitcoin-mining, #cgminer, #eligius, etc)
Welcome to mining Bitcoin.
