Need help troubleshooting ethernet shield (simple client script)

zoomkat,
Absolutely nothing is displayed in the serial output. I figured out that is probably because Serial.begin is below the first println, so I moved it up. I still got no response, so I added a simple 'initializing' string to the print which does in fact show up, but I only see that as the output. I then took out the while(true) statement thinking it was causing and issue but still the only thing on my screen is "initalizing". See my updated code here:

void setup(){
  Serial.begin(9600); 
  Serial.println("initializing");
  if (Ethernet.begin(mac) == 0) {
    Serial.println("Failed to configure Ethernet using DHCP");
    // no point in carrying on, so do nothing forevermore:
    //while(true);
  }

A few added notes. I am in Arduino 1.0.1. I have tested my DHCP port by plugging a laptop in and getting an IP/gateway/DNS and it works perfect.
From the looks of it, the Ethernet.begin() function is not working and hanging forever. What can I do to investigate this function further?