G'day JCDenton,
Words will appear to be a blur... that is correct.
No to crossing your eyes... you want a divergent gaze. Your aim is to use parallel vison. How to do it you'll find it explained with pictures here www.vision3d.com/dots.html
To practice we have found looking at the 3D images to be one of the easiest ways to get the feel of it. The images should pop out of the page. You can try them out here http://www.eyetricks.com/3dstereo.htm
There are a number of good sized images here, try printing a few it is often easier to get the knack of it on the printed version rather than on a computer screen.
Remember not everyone can see 3D stereograms so there are other methods to help you achieve a parallel view of the book as explained in the book and course.
You should be getting a blip page, when you go to the vision3d site be sure to scroll down and click on the frankfurter experiment link, aka the cocktail wienie.
Alex