Roger continued to build up his domination of the World Wide Web by establishing additional domain names for various interests of his. As of this writing, RoCeMaBra.com, CalvaryLutheranRioLinda.org, TRConnection.com, ToddFestWest.com, HowMajestic.com, LinderKin.com, ClassOf1971.com and SacramentoConferenceELCA.org have all been established, and SilentHorizon.com, BloodCrown.com and MatthewLinder.com have been set up for Matt. A milestone was reached on November 27th with the 1,000,000th hit to his Todd Rundgren page (since it began in 1994.) Todd fans worldwide have been generous in their support to keep the page active. Roger began his 25th year with Department of Water Resources, and shared in a Unit Citation award for the "Exchange Implementation Team" which installed a new E-mail system throughout the Department. He also began his 50th year of life on November 30th (i.e., he turned 49.)
Cece still works at Center Junior High as an Instructional Specialist but added a new job this year as well: Call Committee Member. At the annual meeting of the Sierra Pacific Synod (the collection of ELCA Lutheran churches in Northern California and Northern Nevada) this past spring, our church's pastor, David G. Mullen, was elected to be the Bishop, overseeing the Synod's 200+ congregations. As a result, he was no longer able to serve our congregation in Rio Linda, and a new pastor has to be called. This is a lengthy process (12 to 18 months) and Cece was selected to be a member of the team to make this very important decision.
Roger and Cece had a couple of significant events this year as well. In July, they hosted the 8th annual ToddFest/West, and in August spent a few days in Las Vegas, along with Roger's parents, to visit with Cece's brother Rick and family from Idaho. They didn't win big (actually, they didn't win anything) but had a good time nonetheless. They also made a day trip to Reno in October, again failing to bring home any bounty. Looks like retirement will still have to wait until 65.
Matt has experienced the most change this year, some positive, some negative. Early in the year, his band, Silent Horizon, was recruited to play on several Christian Rock tours, but circumstances within the band led to many of the opportunities to be missed. Eventually, dissension with the band elevated to the point that the band decided to call it quits. Matt was also recruited to play bass with another band that was touring in the West, but that band quit the tour before he joined them, so it didn't happen either. In preparation for that tour, he had quit his job at the SAFE Credit Union, although he had been considering that change anyway. After a very short period of unemployment (about 2 weeks) he found a new job teaching music part-time to elementary students at a local private school near Elk Grove, Merryhill Country School. He's really enjoying it.
The double whammy for us, however, occurred in early October, when Matt broke up with his girlfriend Ryan, and a few days later was involved in a serous rollover accident on the freeway returning from Los Angeles, totaling his car. The two events together were quite an emotional drain on the family. Since that time, he has purchased a new car and is back on the road, but with much higher insurance premiums. Fortunately, he was not injured (he was wearing his seat belt.) And, on a happier note, Silent Horizon regrouped in November and played a reunion concert at Calvary.
Brad also broke up with his girlfriend Audrey earlier in the year. Then Brad had an eventful week in mid-May. On May 15th, he finally got his driver's license, two days after his 19th birthday. Then, on May 17th, he was involved in his first accident, rear-ending another vehicle which he hadn't noticed had stopped for a left turn. On May 18th, he was laid off of his first job, as a busboy at Leatherby's Ice Cream, which he had only had for three weeks. He's still searching for the right part-time job to help supplement his educational expenses (he's studying music at American River College) and provide him some personal spending money.
The Linder Family
For links to some of the above highlights, visit http://www.rocemabra.com/roger/christmas-2002.html