Wild. Irish. Rosey.

September 20, 2006 10:31 a.m.

2006-09-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

I am, right now at this moment, quite possibly the happiest that I have been, ever.

Technical difficulties.

2006-09-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

I didn't write on this for a week because I forgot my password. I thought it was my name and my age so I was typing in maura28 over and over and it wasn't working. Then I got lazy and gave up, and finally went and changed my password. This morning it occurred to me what the problem was, after the password had been changed. I'm not 28, I'm 27.
I need a vacation.

Back to the drawing board...

2006-09-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Humph. There goes my plans for how I want to be buried. Nothing ever goes my way.

Good Old Days.

2006-09-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

After playing an exciting game of Oregon Trail last week after a reminder of its existence from Corie, is started feeling nostalgic for things from my childhood. The following have tugged a bit at my heart strings:

jelly shoes (and the inevitable sea of blisters that they produced).
Mork and Mindy
Fruit Wrinkles
Transformers
Small Wonder
Jem (she's truly outrageous)
the game statue maker. Did anyone else play this? I have mentioned it to friends before and been met with blank stares. There is no way that my siblings and I were smart enough to make this up.
the Great Collectible Eraser Craze of '89. Every recess was spent viewing and trading. My mother thought the craze was a bit silly and did not provide much financial backing, which adversely affected my social status that year. The mushroom haircut and navy glasses didn't help.

Leave Jon Voight Alone!

2006-08-31T07:28:00.000-07:00

I saw this story yesterday while flipping through the channels and laughed so hard. Poor Jon Voight gets his granddaughter mixed up with the belly-dancing belle of "Hips Don't Lie" fame. Although the press was acting like it was some horrible faux paux, when I saw the clip I was filled with a sense of surrogate fatherly love for the poor man. I mean really, whose dad wouldn't do this? You take the average male memory, add in old age, mix in an obscure hollywood-child name, and getting the name right is like trying to catch a falling star.
I have the greatest dad in the world, but I have learned long ago to answer to any Gaelic-sounding M name. Molly, Maureen, Maeve, Meaghan, Michaleen (town drunk from The Quiet Man)- heck, no need to be picky!

Never Have I Ever.

2006-08-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

I spent this past weekend in Northern Wisconsin, where I played Scrabble for the first time in my life. I am not sure why I have never played before, as I come from a family of word lovers. Upon my stating that I had never played, I was given a look of sheer amazement.
I began to think about other fairly simple things that I have never done...
*seen the movie Old School
*eaten falafel
* had a Krispy Kreme Doughnut
*gone to a Pro Football Game, or seen one, technically speaking
*watched Survivor or The Apprentice
*touched a bald man's head
*kissed a man with facial hair (not counting a cheek kiss to an old relative)
*worn jeans to work
*whistled
*gone to California

Scrabble was fun but a bit disastrous. I had a bit of a meltdown when I allowed my opponent's use of the word ferro (Italian for "iron") and he questioned my word quid, as in quid pro quo. I'm getting fired up just thinking about it. Now I know to always play with a gynormous dictionary. Is gynormous a word?

Wait, Wait...

2006-08-23T14:44:00.000-07:00

I got tickets to see an upcoming episode of NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. I am very pumped. This is actually a great way to spend an evening for those living in Chi-town or visiting. Thursday night 7:30 to 9:30, $20 to be in a live studio audience entertained by Peter Sagal, Carl Kasell, and a panel including regulars like Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca, Adam Felber, Roy Blunt Jr., Charlie Pierce, PJ O'Rourke... heck I may become a regular myself. I kinda wonder if there are people who go every week. Anyone ever gone? Or to see Prairie Home Companion? (the radio show, not the movie with LiLo)

What Somersaults?

2006-08-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

>>>>> At 6:46 a.m. 8/22/06 Mike wrote:

Dear Maura,
Claire and I are simply ahead of American foreign policy. Seconds before your photo, Claire and I had finished a conversation about reconciliation with and resolution of conflict in the Mideast. On our own we have decided that once a year - in demonstration of our ecumenical inclinations-we will embrace Islam with our own form of evening prayer on the front lawn of the Manor. Allah (and Claire) are great.
Love,
Dad

Contentedly Pondering.

2006-08-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening after dinner, my four year old niece told my dad a secret which she prefaced with "Don't tell any adults, Grandpa." Upon his retelling of the story we wondered what the secret was (he wouldn't tell us because he pinkie swore) and why a bright discerning 4 year-old would mistake her discreet, prudent 60 year-old attorney grandfather for a child....

A Real (And Typical) Email Exchange Between Myself and My Brother.

2006-08-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

>>> 08/18/06 03:24PM >>> Maura writes:
Timmy:
I had a deposition this morning in a mental hospital and a resident kept trying to touch my legs and asked me to be his girlfriend. It was quite clear that he was incontinent of bowel and bladder. Do you think Mom and Dad would be cool with it?

>>> 08/18/06 03:31PM >>>Timothy writes:
Was he Irish?

He sees dead people.

2006-08-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I've been working too long today, but I read this and found it rather sad.
What? The Pay it Forward cutie? This is like Shirley Temple becoming a stripper or something.

Ingenues with long lashes.

2006-08-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

I'm installing cable into the new apartment this weekend and I just called to make sure my package included Showtime, so that I could watch The L Word, which I just watched for the first time recently. It's rather addicting, I must say.

Even Sentimental Fleas Do It.

2006-08-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

126 hours. Weeeeeeeee.

Cockles and Mussels

2006-08-08T16:59:00.001-07:00

My favorite irish pub in the whole world, Molly Malone's, was apparantly sold to people who probably don't even understand the above reference. I will never go there again, and I'm exorbitantly sad.
Thanks for the many wonderful memories, Molly.
Sláinte.

Say it ain't so, pa.

2006-08-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

Sometimes during the course of the day I fear that I may be getting too intelligent. Though I usually consider myself to be a pretty cultured and well-rounded lady, desperate times call for desperate measures, and when I begin to feel a bit too ingenious, I log onto the website of Perez Hilton. I get a daily dose of celebrity gossip, and I kill off a few brain cells before I begin developing new theories of relativity.
Today, however, the site had this post, which may cause permanent brain damage. This is a rather disturbing post when your dad's name is...well, Mike Furey. I thought about telling him but we're a pretty conservative family and the exchange could either be really funny, or really really awkward.

Sighs

2006-08-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

I literally cannot put down the autobiography of our future president. I'm fighting the urge right now to close my office door and hide under my desk and read it until I finish it.

The Exorcism of Maura Catherine

2006-08-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

Note: the following content may be inappropriate for small children and those who have trouble sleeping.
This is a true story and I am not exaggerating or joking. Last night, for the third (3rd) time since early June, I had a long and vivid dream about (not just involving) Ann Coulter. The dreams have involved different plots, but always the same leading lady.
This morning on the train, with a laugh (and a start), I thought of the movie the Exorcism of Emily Rose, where she becomes posessed by the devil and begins ranting in Aramaic.
All I'm saying is that if I start spewing crazy right-wing diatribes, someone please call a priest. Preferably a priest who knows that spewing crazy right wing diatribes is Not Good.

Amado Mio

2006-08-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

Yay! I just bought tickets for C and I to see Pink Martini in concert. For his birthday. Mua ha ha I'm so selfish.

God they are so fabulous. I recommend that all of the no people who read my blog purchase their cds immediately.

Tori and Blackacre

2006-08-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

I love how people think that Tori Spelling really won't get any of her father's money. While it makes for a sexy cover page and a compelling Lifetime TV Movie, I have an inkling there will be a "wee" legal battle over it.
I was bored the other night and started doing caselaw research on her behalf. God I'm such a freaking dweeb. I don't even like her. House of Yes was a great movie though.

Well-dressed sign guy

2006-07-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

More info on this guy here.
Apparantly, his name is Farhad Khoiee-Abbasi and he is divorcing his wife Shabnam Vahabinazhad. Seriously giving new meaning to the term messy divorce. Somewhere Ma and Pa Vahabinazhad are saying, "we told you so, Shabnam. But no...."
I saw from the court website that he had something up today at 10:00 am. I was at court at 9 and actually thought about sticking around to go into Judge Garcia's courtroom at 10, but then decided I needed to get a life.
I don't have any friends who read this blog, but when I do get some and they scroll back to see from whence this blog came (or as Mayor Daley says, "from once this came"), leave a comment and tell me...if you were standing downtown with a public sign all day everyday that you felt was important for everyone to read, what would this sign say?

FBI Stop Raping My Wife

2006-07-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

This is a good point to start for a blog. What is up with the guy who stands outside of the courthouse in downtown Chicago with a sign that reads "FBI Stop Raping my Wife?" He is very well dressed and wears a suit everyday. And he just stands there- all day every day.
Schizo with a trust fund? Mysterious.