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Michael
Castello
of
Castello
Cities Internet Network (who, along
with his brother David, was profiled in a
December 2006 DN
Journal Cover Story) was in our area
on a family vacation over the weekend. I always
try to see Michael and his family when they are
in this part of Florida or we are in Southern
California where they live. When we got
together again Sunday for brunch in Sarasota (joined
by T.R.A.F.F.I.C.
Co-Founder Howard
Neu and his wife Barbara who
were also visiting from Fort Lauderdale),
Michael, his wife Sheri and daughter Jessica
were all there, but son Jonathan, whom I
also always look forward to seeing, was missing.
(Clockwise
from left) Sheri Castello, Barbara Neu,
Diana Jackson, Ron Jackson, Howard
Neu, Michael Castello and Jessica
Castello at Marina Jack in Sarasota,
Florida Sunday.
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Michael
explained that Jonathan, a student at Cal
State Northridge, had to stay home
in California because he was being paid
to work as a computer programmer during
a summer internship and things were just
a tad busy at his workplace - the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena.
In fact while we were enjoying a
leisurely Sunday brunch in Sarasota, a
day that most people were off work,
people at JPL were working their
tails off on a little project you
may have heard about - landing the
$2.5 billion Curiosity rover on the
surface of the planet Mars that
night! Something they did successfully
around 1:30am (U.S. Eastern time) this
morning.
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Above:
Jubliant scene at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena,
California early this morning (U.S.
Eastern time) when the Curiosity
rover successfully landed on Mars.
Michael Castello's son, Jonathan,
is currently working in computer
programming at JPL as a paid college
intern. Image from: NASA/JPL-Caltech
I don't
know about you, but during my school
days when people asked me what I did on
my summer vacation, I didn't have
anything nearly that cool to talk
about! The only rover I worked on
was a used two-door AMC Rambler that I
bought from one of my teachers. To hear
what Jonathan was doing didn't surprise
me a bit though - he is a brilliant kid
who also has some very solid writing
skills that I have seen first hand. I
think his sister Jessica, a
budding actress with a load of talent,
is also destined for big things.
Michael and
Sheri have done a great job parenting
their children and I would love to see
them follow their dad's footsteps into
the domain world, but, given how busy
they are with their own pursuits, that
probably won't happen. |
Jonathan
Castello in a photo taken
during a Castello family visit to our
home
in 2009, before Jonathan went off to
college. |
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Still, if ICANN
ever gets around to launching a new
pTLD program (Planetary TLDs)
I know a young guy over at the Jet
Propulsion Lab who would be perfect
to run that project! |
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