First encounters with electronics
I built my first breadboard circuit today, learned a lot.
First learning, thanks to Roy: when making your power connector, don't bother trying to solder the ends of your lead to the straight headers. It's fiddly and difficult, and you'll end up melting the plastic part of the header. Instead, use pliers to pull out the header pins, and feed through the stripped ends of the wire. Use a blob of glue to secure it. Much tidier.
Second learning: if your multimeter is set to measure AC voltage, and you touch it to a DC circuit, it seems you will kill your LEDs instantly. The instructions on the class note are a bit confusing: if you follow them with the multimeters that are sold at the NYU computer store, they will lead you somewhat astray. Specifically, they suggest moving the red lead, which is actually not necessary. Doing this will set you up to measure AC voltage.