PSA: This is content from my personal blog if that wasn't apparent from the domain name. I am particularly interested in help with the GCM issue - I'm not sure

PSA: This is content from my personal blog if that wasn't apparent from the domain name. I am particularly interested in help with the GCM issue - I'm not sure if the notifications aren't getting pushed because of an issue in the code, or because of some configuration issue in the developer console. I have verified that the developer console points to the correct IP address, so it is not that. Thank you all, and I hope you enjoy reading my post. I would love any criticism you have on how to improve either the post or the app.