I present professional-life snapshots of conflict, corruption, betrayal, murder, suicide, drug running, spying, sex scandals, courage, communists, nazis, several heroes, and a monkey on the loose.Most days were meetings.I am a gray man. I encountered the best and the worst in people. This is my story as a municipal bureaucrat, spanning forty-four years.Local government is where we live, work and die. It's a wild ride.Dare to take it.