Sometimes my job is too cool

Most of the time I sit in front of a computer. Occasionally I sit in meetings with various stakeholders and other big wigs. And on a very rare occurrence, I get to see stuff like this.



This is Parker Dam, which creates Lake Havasu, the last major storage reservoir on the Colorado River. Here is the view looking downstream of the dam.


It was a gorgeous day - a perfect day for being on the river. However, the coolest thing was not even being at the river by the dam. It was this:


This is me, in full nerd regalia, inside one the four penstocks. Allow me to repeat myself. I am INSIDE A PENSTOCK! The place where I am standing is about 20 feet in diameter and is usually filled with water moving at about 5 feet per second. When the water moves through the penstock, it spins this turbine:



I may be a serious nerd, but seriously, how many times in my career am I going to get the opportunity to stand inside a penstock and look at a turbine that up close and personal? Pretty darn cool if you ask me.