Homer Simpson

Today I went on a tour of a local power plant. I was under the impression that all powerplants were huge compounds out in the middle of nowhere. I guess I have just played a lot of Sim City in my days. We have a power plant just west of our downtown area. If you have ever driven west in I-80 on a cold winter day, and noticed huge plumes of steam coming from a weird building... that's it.

That plant provides power for about 700 homes. It is mainly used during the summer months to help provide an extra boost for all of our air conditioning. These fella's dont fool around, they tear through $1,000,000 worth of natural gas every month or so. I find that hard to believe, but I swear that's what the tour guide told me. They used to run on coal, but were layering the entire valley with soot, so switched to natural gas.

First we walked around focussing on the engineering aspects of the plant. We discussed psi, heat, rpms, turbines, boilers, and other complicated nonsense. The boiler houses a giant fireball that we got to look at. Four valves pump natural gas into a giant twirling inferno that hovers in the middle of the boiler. Awesome

The highlight of the tour came at the end, for me. We went into the control center of the plant. I was immediately reminded of Homer Simpson. This control booth looked exactly like the cartoon version. Not to mention the jolly, beer plumped, Homerish man running the show. I believe his name was Steve. I scanned the room for doughnuts but didn't find any. Other than that it was an exact replica.

I have met Homer Simpson, have you?