jedimasta:
The very first thing I did was put a 220 Ohm resistor between the 5v and an LED for the blink (choosing to use the breadboard, not pin 13) and the LED wouldn't light until I removed the resistor.
What pin exactly? What sketch? Normally you would do this:
Output pin ----> Resistor ----> LED ----> Ground
So I don't see where 5V comes into it.