Joshua van Aalst’s blog

I just got back from a wonderful weekend in Melbourne. Originally I booked Melbourne as a getaway to forget about not being admitted to MIT, but only a couple of days after I booked the flights and accommodation … I got accepted!

Donna and I headed down there on Friday morning and booked into a nice little apartment called St James on Darling St (Note: make sure you stay in their apartment building and not the hotel). We then proceeded to indulge in shopping on Chapel St and the surrounding areas.  In the evening we met up with a very good friend of Donna’s and went to numerous clubs and bars, which was a lot of fun. The only downside of the evening was being door listed with free drinks to a hot new venue, called Boutique, and arriving to be told our door list and drinks were only valid till 10:30. Hmm….

On Saturday we got up fairly late and did a little wandering in the city and also on Brunswick St. I think the store of the day still has to go to Ministry Of Style. If you haven’t been there then make the effort. They design plenty of their own clothes and they are very raver/punk chic.

Saturday evening we met up with a good friend of mine and his girlfriend at the Casino. After having a very nice dinner and a couple of drinks at the bar, Donna went to the bathroom. Next minute we see her run out and security jump from all angles. Apparently she had been in the toilet cubicle and hung her hand bag on the back of the door. Whilst in there a young blonde girl leaned over the toilet door and grabbed her bag! Donna rushed out, after her and screamed “Their’s no money in there you moron. I’ve already lost it on the pokies!”. The girl seemed startled by this and started rummaging through Donna’s handbag. She grabbed my new camera. At this point Donna caught up with her and crashed tackled her in the hallway outside the bathrooms. The girl screamed back “Stop taking my stuff!”. Un-phased Donna grabbed her handbag, my camera and ran to security. What an ordeal. Luckily we got everything back. The only odd part was even though security caught the girl and noted her details, when we reported the incident to the police they said they couldn’t do anything. It was her word against Donna’s. Even though they noted that the girl had numerous prior reports and charges against her. So much for reasonable doubt.

All in all though it was a very enjoyable weekend away and a nice break prior to my MIT preperation and move to Boston.

Ok, I’ve had many wonderful weeks. The week I met Donna. The week I put on A Night Of Trance 1st Birthday. The week I met Mozart. The week I got into IBM e.t.c. e.t.c. but the last 7 days truly have been amazing!

Firstly, I have been officially accepted into the MIT MBA program at MIT’s Sloan school of management. For the Australian readers… American management schools tend to have names that are different to the universities they are apart of Stern is the business school for New York University for instance. Anyway, today i received my offical written offer. It was cutely packaged in a big envelope that on the outside said in big letters: YOUR IN!

Secondly, I received a wonderful bonus from my employer, Macquarie, for the year just gone. Macquarie year end is in April/May. I worked very hard for Macquarie but was concerned that since shifting from a contractor to an employee I would miss out financially. My manager was true to his word and then some. Incredibly generous. What a wonderful place to work. I am truly privileged and I thank him enormously.