sorry that i did not make that more clear..
my setup is the accelerometer on a mini breadboard. if the breadboard is level, I get a reading of 0
if I tilt the board to the left and watch the serial monitor, I see it moving down to -600 reading when the board is at a 35 degree angle
if I tilt the board to the right and watch the serial monitor, I see it moving up to +600 reading
here is the accelerometer pdf from parallax:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEIQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parallax.com%2Fdl%2Fdocs%2Fprod%2Fcompshop%2FSICMemsicTut.pdf&ei=AFCUUOfwILC70QHp6oDABQ&usg=AFQjCNGu1S53Teo_f2J72k170LaohsiVWQ&sig2=8Cq5SpAdofwzTxurp6Bzxw