Hi Eric, 

First, you should try to setup notifications for pin state changes using setPinChangeType and enablePinChangeNotification.  This feature will let you receive notifications for when the input voltage …

Yes, that is the correct code flow.

The accelerometer has built in motion detection.  You can enable it with the enableMotionDetection method and receive motion notifications from the movementDetected callback function.

Tap detection will do what you are looking for.  You can enable it with enableTapDetection.