The magnetic fields website encompasses the majority of the work you will do. At times, through various links, you will be redirected to assignments that relate specifically to your class. Remember that a weBLOG posts new information above the old, so you should always scroll down to see yesterday's and previous days' assignments.

The goal of these first few days is to evaluate how we perceive and are perceived by others. We will attempt to understand the difficulties that others may encounter when trying to decipher the language we use. Here's an example:

"So, we're on dawn patrol and the fetch is way choice but full of mervs and grommets, and this momboosa double-overhead eighty-sixes everyone, sticks in the rinse cycle, and all the gremmies stuck in the zone. Two seconds later, up goes the meatball and I'm like, I'm out, time for breakfast at McDonald's."

This is an actual overheard conversation (you'll find I eavesdrop a lot), outside the RonJon surf shop in Long Beach Island, New Jersey. I may have embellished what I heard (just a tad), but you get the point. This is English, of a sort. Translation: "So, we're up early (at the beach) and the waves are very good, but the water is full of idiots and kids, and a ten or twelve foot wave causes havoc, surfboards strewn along the shore, and all the teenagers were flailing around where the waves break. A moment later they put up the no surfing sign, so I said, I'm leaving to go have breakfast at a fast food restaurant."

Tomorrow, you'll have some translating to do.