I used to sing this song to myself for years and years, and every once in a while it pops back into my head. Well I was listening to some Matisyahu — a hasidic reggae/rap artist — and even though he doesn’t sing this particular song, my mind became flooded with all of those melodies from when I was much younger.

But I couldn’t remember the Hebrew words as we sang them around that huge tree. I decided, for the first time, to use the internet to find the words to that song. I simply searched Google, in English, for the transliteration of some of the sounds that best matched my memory. My query was hebrew song avodah ki hashem. Well, I had the “ki hashem” part right, but not “avodah.” While that’s a valid Hebrew word, it’s not in the song. Basically, my mind had transformed the consonants to different sounds, replacing spotty memory with recognizable Hebrew words, but amazingly the vowel sounds I contained in my memory remained largely intact 25 years later.

The first page of search results led me to this page, a blog entry naturally, containing the real words to the tune I remember. The internet never ceases to amaze me, and some times it just blows me away.

I’ve given my notice and I’ll be starting a new job in a few weeks. Same company, new office. It will be a nice change, but I’ll be sticking to my philosophy of “Don’t get too comfortable.”

Finally, something in the theater to look forward to. I also can’t wait to see Home for Purim’s studio-designed website — there better be one.

I’m back from Florida. I had a great time with my relatives. My cousins have grown up so much, it’s hard to contemplate. One is getting ready to graduate college and is still collecting scholarships like they’re pennies. He’s planning to be a CPA. My grandmother is still getting around at 90 years old.

The neighborhood where my cousins, uncle and aunt live was devastated during last year’s hurricane season. Most of the houses haven’t been completely fixed up — especially the rooves — and probably won’t before the next hurricane season starts.

We visited Las Olas and Miami. Las Olas reminded me of an upscale New Hope. The shops were a bit touristy and not very interesting to me. Nothing beats people-watching in Miami, though. There happened to be a film festival taking place when we were visiting, so there was an interesting mix of characters.

My brother and I will be staying with my uncle, aunt, and cousins while down there.

When I come back and see people again, I’ll be old.

The musical was cute. The songs weren’t magnificent, but some were memorable and the performers (a cast of four playing multiple characters) were very good.

Before the show, we had dinner in a small barbecue place down the street from the theater. The food was great but the drinks had way too much alcohol. It was a nice end to a full weekend. I had originally planned to take off from work today to extend my time, but decided not to and save the vacation day for another time, preferrably when Amy doesn’t have an appointment with her dentist. But there isn’t much going on in the office. The boss is out because she, like Amy, sliced her hand with a knife this weekend. There must be something going around.

In the slight chance that it is the latter, here are some updates.

I think I’m the only person in this country who watches the Olympics. I haven’t watched much, but I did catch some great moments. There’s something about young people performing at the ultimate level that really interests me. There is so much emotion whether it’s athletics, music, or anything else at the highest level of performance. It beats watching overpaid athletes who are more interested in posturing and getting the multimillion-dollar salary than performing.

I’m finally doing something about getting into better shape. It’s not much, but I’m being consistent with it and I have plans to get even more exercise. I’m eating better and cooking more. I haven’t had a microwaveable dinner in a long time, but I still have junk once in a while, like Tuna Helper.

I should be done with my master’s degree in September, and I can’t wait. All I can say right now is that the experience has not been good and I’m happy I have to pay for only a small portion of the tuition. I just hope even that small expense ends up being worth my time. I don’t know what that means… maybe a better job, maybe a feeling that I’ve actually learned something worthwhile other than how to be a mid-level manager in a corporation. At least the class I’m taking now deals a little with something interesting: behavioral psychology.

Most of my remaining classes will be self-directed or one-on-one, so perhaps my experiences will change. The administration is absolutely horrible. I’m assigned a new financial counselor about once a month, and the outgoing one doesn’t bring the new one up to speed. My invoices are incorrect every class, which makes it a pain dealing with the new counselor and getting things done quickly so I can get reimbursed by my company. They can’t determine my full schedule because the version of my program is outdated — that’s what I get for taking a year off while I was teaching.

We have facilitators, not professors. There’s nothing to profess — the individuals who lead the class (although they tend to have great credentials) just facilitate discussion as far as I can tell. In general, for a program where writing is such a key ingredient, you would think the facilitors would have much better writing skills. I don’t think “noun-verb agreement” is a “foreign concept.”

Don’t get me started on trying to determine exactly how some of my classmates graduated high school, let alone got accepted into a graduate program. The learning experience should not be like this.

Let’s see, what else. My lease is up in June and I need to decide where I’m going. I can’t bear to live another year here, so it’s time to get out.

That’s it for now.

Four jobs you’ve had in your life:

• Salesperson at RadioShack
• Associate program director in a non-profit organization
• Music teacher
• Accounting associate

Four movies you can watch over and over:

• Amadeus (Director’s Cut)
• Clue
• A Mighty Wind
• State and Main

Four places you have lived:

• Newark, Delaware
• Brooklyn, New York
• Latham, New York
• West Paterson, New Jersey

Four TV shows you love to watch:

• The West Wing (haven’t seen anything this season)
• The Daily Show (haven’t seen any since I reduced cable)
• American Idol (first time watching since first season)
• Skating With Celebrities (something about schadenfreude)

Four places you have been on vacation:

• San Diego, California
• San Francisco, California
• Phoenix/Sedona/Grand Canyon, Arizona
• Williamsburg, Virginia

Four websites you visit daily:

• My other blog
• Bloglines
• School
• Work’s intranet website

Four of your favorite foods:

• The “French Quarter” from The Melting Pot… well, the entire meal
• Filet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes
• Chicken and pasta
• Sherbet

Four places you would rather be right now:

• In my bed
• California
• Europe
• Any place I haven’t been

Four bloggers you’re tagging (who are under no obligation to continue):

• Doob
• Jimmy
• Schtacey
• Amy

Thanks to Amy for making all the arrangements. Let us know if you haven’t received the evite but would like to come. (I can leave this an open invitation on this website because my lack of posting here has resulted in having very, very few readers, from what I can tell.)

It’s been a while since I’ve seen some good live comedy.