2002 - Our Marathon Year!
	On behalf of the American Stroke Association and in memory of our dear friend Rich DiPietro, Rick and Jo Anne trained for 6 months, raised $9600 and completed the SF Chronicle Marathon in late July. Rick jogged the 26.2 miles and Jo Anne walked the 13.1 mile half marathon! Friends and Family came from near and far to cheer us on. Lara completes 2nd year family practice residency; accepts post-residency job in St. Louis Chris expands his Oakland house; consults for most of the year Rick leaves HOK; starts RNM Engineering Jo Anne continues to lead Gluon Networks; helps Rick launch his new business Mid-summer found us headed east for weddings and visits with dear friends and family Continuing from their successful Marathon outing in July, Rick and Jo Anne speed walk the US Half Marathon in November And finally, Rick and Jo Anne complete 35 years with a trip to Hawaii in December

Lara (laradopa@hotmail.com)
finished her second year of family practice residency in June and celebrated her birthday with a week in Cancun with her friend Glenn. After cheering her folks on for the marathon in July, Lara started her search for a post-residency position that would fulfill the requirements of her National Service Scholarship (3 years in an under-served community). After several interviews, she accepted a position at a multi-site clinic in St. Louis starting in July 2003. Her ten-year high school reunion and Thanksgiving with the extended family rounded out Lara's year.

Chris
spent most of his year planning and building an addition to his little home in Oakland, and looking for a full-time job. The addition was framed by a contractor in June with the idea that all the inside work would be done by Chris and Anna (who are now living together) and assorted family and friends with Rick providing electrical work in exchange for web assistance. Professionally, Chris spent most of the year consulting for Macromedia while looking for a full-time gig during the worst tech downturn in years. In December Chris finally found a full-time job as a UI Designer & Developer for NexTag, a small but profitable firm in San Mateo.

Rick (Richard_N_MillerPE@hotmail.com)
had a very busy year. Taking on the marathon as he approached his 57th birthday and had never considered running as anything more than a spectator sport was the launch of a year full of challenges: Elected president of local section of the Illuminating Engineering Society, Rick gave a well-received talk on a new lighting control system in early June, completed 5 years at HOK in mid-June and was impacted by a third corporate layoff in late June. After the Marathon in late July, he decided to take the leap and go into the electrical consulting business for himself, forming RNM Engineering, Inc in partnership with Jo Anne. After completing the set-up process, he is on his way with several on-going projects and having a great time.

JoAnne (JoAnne.Miller@GluonNetworks.com, JoAnne_Miller@msn.com)
continues at the helm of start-up Gluon Networks. Some additional monies were raised, the first version of the product (a next-generation telephone central switch) was launched and initial purchase orders received. Now Jo Anne is hitting the road with the sales team to work the next phase of Gluon's execution plan. For 'fun', she is working with Rick on RNM Engineering, cooking family dinners, and continuing the walking program that she started as marathon training.

We close the year with a 35th wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii and much thankfulness for our continuing good health, good friends and family including Jo Anne's parents.

 

Below are selected photos from throughout the year:
Family marathon photo Grandparents marathon support Rick & Joanne running 1/2 marathon		Lara on Cancun beach Lara, relaxin' in Cancun Lara birthday flowers