I am synced I believe, I will try to send a transaction
It will not send a transaction, I will look into further, but I believe it has something to do with my firewall settings or router.
Not the firewall, Hmmmmmmmm
Be sure that the aptcoin.conf file is in place on your platform. The addnodes are often needed for a bootstrap into the network, although it hasn't been as much of an issue lately. This tutorial may help:
What is the block time? How long should it take between blocks? is it like an average or is it pretty regular? (besides the weird ones)
The block time is not regular, this is the reason for the discussion on the re targeting algorithm. Currently I am not sure what they average but it was around 5. ideally these coins could adjust per change in the N factor so the whole block time is predictable. Although I am not sure if the time is evening out over the long run but I believe it is