The Summer Holz are Here!

Yes Yes..finally I am back in Singapore. Actually I was back to the sunny island since last tuesday but was too exhausted to update.
SO what was I doing the last 1.5 months?
what else?
Studying lor...the US system again put me into a giant time crunch and in my exam week I had 3 papers due and 3 exams. Actually last sem was quite slack but you know where my time went to right ;). I managed to emerge relatively unscathed this semester in terms of grades...am glad I did well for "killer" econometrics that didn't turn out to be so bad after all even though I missed out on a 8 mark question.
Right now, I'm working at PUB again for 5 weeks. This time the work is different - I have to prepare briefing slides for tenant associations in the Marina Barrage and Seletar-Serangoon Reservoir area and inform them that it is important to engage in more environmentally friendly housekeeping practices. Its not a problem doing up the slides but I don't know how to package the idea so that these tenant associations will buy into it. Environmental issues are essentially public good affairs and since costs are diffuse and benefits are concentrated they will not have any incentive to be concerned at all unless they are really environmentally conscious. So...I am back to the 14th floor of 111 Somerset Road in the Policy Planning Dept. I really like the way PUB treats their interns...no ill-treatment and long working hours plus I got a regular 60 sqft cubicle all to myself!No one disturbs you either if you should decide to take a short nap.
Today I chatted with an assistant director who sits in the cubicle beside mine. He used to be an engineer but he is currently into policy planning. He said that the challenges of the job are that there are no right/wrong answers to solve a problem and no visible/obvious signs of success because policy making has a long-range perspective. However, he found the job a good change from engineering which he found extremely boring because it is static and calculations never change. Oh yes, he also reminded me to look at the problem from various perspectives and always try to seek help in areas that are not within my expertise so that I don't waste time formulating and planning something that is totally infeasible.

Outside work, I'm not doing very much...just meeting up with friends here and there. Call me if you wanna meet up. I'm also planning for Duke in Geneva side trips and the post-course 12 day trip. It will be really fun...totally free and easy but I'm not sure how lousy the hostels I can tolerate. I realize that the standard of US Inns are actually pretty good...I mean they are standard and always come with aircon but that's not guaranteed of europe hotels/hostels. The one in greece was so horrible...3 nights without aircon eh...sharing a huge king size bed with dad and mum...squeezed in the middle...no air...between 2 snoring people. :( And they called it a 3 star hotel!!!!

Getting late liao...I have to go. Will put up updates on what happened to me during my 1.5 month MIA. Glad that you're still visiting my blog!