mainly just looking for the place where I can call a method every single loop. I'd like to increase/decrease the Y of a button over a period of time. Can this be done without an event system?
You can use Android Animations, it's the easiest approach for what I think you need to implement.
Check out: http://cogitolearning.co.uk/?p=952
Create an animation XML file, specify toYDelta and duration as required.
Then load the animation and start it when required,
Animation animation
= AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(this, R.anim.animation);
animBtn.startAnimation(animation);
To call a method for each iteration of a loop,
Look here: http://www.mkyong.com/java/how-to-run-a-task-periodically-in-java/
My personal choice is using a handler: http://www.mkyong.com/java/how-to-run-a-task-periodically-in-java/
Morever, if you are willing to cause a delay in your main thread to delay method calls, I would advice against that.