I can almost guarantee you that it's just the outlets running their default programming that they happened to be off when you plugged things in.
Get your network set up by enabling DHCP and estarting the controller. Then get fusion set up with the directions in the "fusion quick start guide". After that is set up, start coding to your hearts content. I would read up on the "comprehensive users manual" so you know what the apex is capable of and start getting some coding ideas, and then post here if you want someone to review your code or have any questions.