Maura was left in the care of her grandparents who she loved very much. Her mom had left Maura in San Francisco because she knew that Maura would get lonely being in a New York apartment during the days. Atleast in San Francisco, Maura had her gramma and grampa around all the time. Plus this character named Jake. Jake is a Mallard. But we can forgive him for being that way.
Here is Maura playfully squashing Jake. Jake doesn't look very comfortable.
There she goes again... playing with gramma's glasses.
Maura decided to stow away in her uncle's luggage when he visited San Francisco. Here she is running amok in her uncle's apartment. Look at all these science and math books! Maura is pretty good in math you know.
Her uncle is working on the computer. I bet Maura can figure out what he's doing. Lets go and see what he's working on...
Well... it looks like he is working on some plasma physics! Look at all these technical papers on plasmas. Ah that makes sense. Maura did overhear once about her uncle working on a magnetic fusion project at Princeton. It is starting to make sense.
This place looks very clean and orderly, unlike her mom's place. Are you sure that they are related to eachother?
Ah we are back in her mom's apartment. Maura helped her mom and her uncle pick out a rug for the apartment. Whoah, this one looks like a Kandinsky. Maura recognizes the style from all of the art history courses that she has taken.
Maura doesn't like that little machine down there. In this apartment, there is only one favorite child, and it is NOT going to be that little vacuum robot. Maura doesn't like the fact that her mom lavishes praise at the thing. Some day when nobody is looking....
Maura very much approves of the view from her mom's apartment.
Maura decides to follow her mom to work today. It looks like she has taken over the place.
"Well," Maura exclaimed in her duck language. "It looks like there is alot of work to be done here." The best way she knew how to get to work was to find someone else to do the work for her. She read somewhere in her mom's business school books, the concept of delegating. What a great idea! Why do something that you can get someone else to do!
Maura quickly befriended Becky, a coworker of her mom. Maura quickly realized that Becky was extremely intelligent and competent, and that she was the one to get things done. Maura was impressed. Here is Maura posing with Becky. Maura has a very stoic look because she wants to be immortalized in the annals of finance as a very fiscally conservative duck. I wonder what a fiscally conservative duck is? Ducks don't even have pockets to hold coins or credit cards...
Maura spots some documents that she thought needed reviewing. She quickly scans over it and decides that Becky also needs to take a look at it. They then get into a prolonged discussion about risk management. Ducks may be risk averse, and they sure know alot about risk management.
Maura doing some work on the computer. Because ducks don't have fingers, she needs a bit of help working with the mouse. Maura doesn't like the mouse at all. You can see the disapproving scowl on her face.
Maura being very proud of herself for doing something productive, decides that she deserved to get some attention and praise from others working around her.
Well who can this be? Maura is naturally curious about people who are sitting around her. He seems busy at work, but maybe Maura can introduce herself to him.
Thankfully, Becky was nice enough to interrupt his work and introduce them to each other. This is Dan! he's relatively new to the firm, but Maura is also impressed with his work ethic. Maura learns that Dan has taken a CFA exam, and is preparing to take another. Maura doesn't know much about accounting. So she is naturally curious to learn from Dan about the great career prospects that a duck might have if she were to also try to pass the CFA exams. A duck with a CFA would be a formidable duck.
Here is Maura posing with Dan and Becky. You can tell that Maura has a very smug look on her face. She is just so proud of herself for putting in a full day's work with just one technical discussion and a few mouse clicks. Very good, Maura! Maura wasn't a greedy duck though. She lavished praise on Becky, saying how impressed she was seeing her comprehend very complex ideas and models that surrounded the work. In duck language, it sounded like, "quack quack quack quack." I guess the spoken English language was too nuanced to make out the different vocabulary. To me, every word sounds like "quack." You really have to speak duck-language to understand her.
And just who is this sitting nearby the flag with the Union Jack? Maura peeks over the divider to see this very pleasant woman chatting away with an Australian accent. This is Melinda! Maura learns that Melinda works in negotiations. Ducks are not very good at negotiations. Ducks would rather just grab the cracker and waddle away quickly, rather than negotiate the equitable and fair price for the cracker. Maura has alot to learn from Melinda.
Maura starts sniffing around for crackers, when she starts getting into a conversation with Melinda. They start talking about volleyball and running. Maura claims that she can not only play volleyball, but that she is also a marathon runner. Seriously! Maura begins to open up an excel spreadsheet showing proof that she can do both. Maura huffs and says that every-so-often, there is a 20-sigma height pile of sand on the beach that enables her to reach the top of the net. She further exclaims that although her feet are short, that because she can turnover her stride with blinding speed - almost like a blur - that she can keep up with even the best marathoners in the world. Impressive duck! I bet Maura can really Flintstone it if you put her in the Flintstonemobile.
Melinda is very amused by Maura's story. Maura says that someday she will try to prove to Melinda that her story is true. She will find that 20-sigma height sand hill on the beach some day. As for the running, Maura is just resting up her feet for the 2015 Boston Marathon. Can't afford to get an injury from just trying to prove a point by Flintstoneing it in the office.
By now, everyone around Maura is laughing and smiling at Maura. Partly because she is a cute duck, and partly because she was telling these incredible stories. Here is Christina, who is very amused by all the stories. Finally Maura fesses up, and says that she was just making everything up for laughs. Such a silly duck!
During the lunch hour, Maura decides to walk over to see that famous bull. Its a bad time for the market right now.
Maura and her mom pass by an interesting building.
Ah Maura shows some interest in the building. She has some knowledge of architecture as well!
Maura goes to midtown Manhattan to check out some of the other banks. Here, she is outside of the Lehman Brothers headquarters a few days after they declared bankruptcy! Wow, the pretty colors! Maura notes how ostentatious and colorful their facade is! I wonder how much money it costs to run those lights every night?
Maura also visits Morgan Stanley. She read in the paper that they are under alot of pressure as well.
Maura enjoys seeing the lights around Times Square. However, she again questions how much it costs to run the lights everynight. After all, she is a very environmentally knowledgable duck.
Here is Maura watching over the crowds around the New York Stock Exchange. The financial crisis seems to coincide with Maura's visit... I wonder if she had anything to do with it?
After all, the duck knows alot of stuff and is well connected... could she have engineered such a feat....
Maura and her mom visit the World Financial Center and look at the World Trade Center site.
She is at the Wintergarden, a place that her mommy described to her as one of the sites she had visited during the holidays last year. Her mom had come with many of her classmates to visit many wall street firms. She said that Lehman Brothers had held a reception at one of the expensive restaurants facing the Wintergarden.
Ooh, looks like they are setting up for an autoshow in the Wintergarden. Maura likes the shape of this Aston Martin.
Maura takes a strange interest in Merrill Lynch as we pass their offices...
Maura was really looking forward to the weekend. She had gotten a new friend from her mom's coworkers! A young turtle! You can see part of Mr. Turtle in this photo. Maura is really happy that she has a friend that she can use as a pillow. 
Here is a picture of Monica and Maura at the apartment. I have no idea who they are communicating with. Monica is having fun, but Maura looks very serious!
Both Monica and Maura are very similar. They both have very extensive networks of friends and associates.
