Thank you very much for the response.  I inadvertently figured it out... still have no idea what was happening, but its working now.

Thanks again! 

I just updated Java to version 7 and I can no longer see/view the serial monitor window.  The serial monitor itself opens and begins communicating with my board, but I can't view it.  In my windows task bar I can see the "mini window" and I see it running the sketch.  The TX light on my micro lights up once I open the serial monitor.  In the small task bar window I can see the serial monitor updating every second as its supposed to (patiently waiting for me to input the unix time). 

I'm running Windows 7, Arduino 1.0.3, using a Micro board, and have a RTC connected.  I tried uninstalling Java 7 and reverting back to Java 6 to no avail....  I tried searching for people having similar issues and couldn't find anything. 

This is driving me crazy!  Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!