GPIO Pin Problems

Still doing research on this problem, not giving up or waiting for a hand to hold. :-) But seriously, any help would be greatly appreciated. Would my input problem have anything to do with the way I'm configuring the pin settings? I've been reading about things like pull-up and pull-down resistors, tri-state input, open drains, etc. I'm still getting my head wrapped around it but can anybody point me in the right direction or tell me if it's a dead end for what I'm trying to accomplish?