It has come full circle. Years ago I joined this forum as a student with the sole goal to learn how to get optical mice to work with the microcontroller we had at the time. Now, seven years later and back on board as a mentor, (and with the new roboRIO having USB ports) I can finally say I GOT IT!
So here's a video tutorial I made. I included links to the necessary files in the dooblydoo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aup6CQv_-j4