google grand opening : omaha event photography

How many people do you know who are working their dream job? My husband is one of those lucky ones. When we first started dating seven years ago, one of the first things he told me was how he'd love to work for Google someday. Six years later, Google announced that they were building a data center in Council Bluffs, and Chris applied. I couldn't have been more proud of him when he got the news that he got the job! I love having him work at Google - it's true, the perks are great - and the people that work there with him are a blast. In fact, we went to Aruba with one of his co-workers and his wife and daughter in January! It's taken this last year (plus) to get the center up and running, and yesterday I was lucky enough to be invited to the grand opening celebration! 100(ish) prominent people in the community were invited, and another 100 were selected to attend through a lottery. I got invited via being a spouse. :) All the friends and family members got VIP wristbands...including this little guy.




I tried to get the firemen to let me up here, but they wouldn't. Can you believe it? Something about lawsuits and liability and safety....


They had a tent set up showcasing some of the different Google applications, like Google Earth, Gmail, YouTube, etc.
















There was LOTS of press.


And a food tent decorated with local (I think) plants and the Google colors.


There was a bean bag toss with prizes!






A candy bar!








There was a dog (named Puppy)!


And, of course, a ceremony.










This is Chris, the data center operations manager.


This is Tom Hanafan, the Council Bluffs mayor.


This is a guy in the audience with "Google" painted on his forehead.


This is the governor of Iowa, Chet Culver.


This guy is Paul Froutan, the director of Google hardware operations. He's my husband's boss's boss's boss.


Instead of the traditional ribbon cutting, there was a symbolic connecting of fiber optics cable.


P.S. In this whole series, you can tell...if you're ever wondering why your wedding photographer is so against direct sunlight, this is why. Squinty people and dark shadows! But you gotta do what you gotta do.




The mayor had the special honor of connecting the final bit.




That caused fireworks to go off next to the data center (since it was a bright day, you could barely see them, but it was still fun).


Then the celebration continued with food and music.


How darling are these kids in their Google gear?


I loved getting my face painted when I was a kid. I would have loved this snake!






This guy was amazing with the yo-yo. Well, maybe not. But amazing to me since I can barely make it go up and down.




I grabbed these shots of this cutie as we were leaving...she's the little girl who was on the Aruba trip with us. She was being shy, though, and didn't want her picture taken. :)



You can find out more about the data center by clicking here. It's so cool to have them right in our backyard!