If I say type /usr/bin/crond & (And no I don't believe this is where I saw but this example should work.) What will that & do? I belive && in like make && make modules_install is and.

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"/usr/bin/crond &" will run the program crond as a background process, so that the console at which you typed the command will still accept new commands.
Without that "&", the user will not be able to enter any new commands until the program ends.

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What if I do "irssi &" so that I can type new commands. How can I switch back to that irssi after I am done with my commands?

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Well, I could be wrong, but I think that once a task is assigned as a background task you can't reassign it to the user. In a case like this you would run the program normally (without the &), and then press CTRL-ALT-F2 to switch to the second console. Then login again there and do whatever else you wanted to do. You can then switch between the tasks using CTRL-ALT-F1/F2.
If you want to run multiple consoles, you should really get a graphical interface, as it will make things a WHOLE lot easier on you.

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You certainly could be wrong Birdman ;-) - This is a question where a RTFM response is appropriate, specifically:
info bash 'job control'

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To bring it back into the foreground type "fg". It is the same when using Ctrl&Z to pause a program and then putting it into the backround with "bg".

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&& runs the second command if the first succeeds, so it's like "and" in PERL. || runs the second if the first fails.

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