Long Time Away

These last couple months were one of the most challenging of all of IamFritz.com's 7 year existence, and resulted in my falling way behind in... everything! An ongoing virus attack by somebody or another who seemed determined to shut my site down. Their attacks came on different fronts, and were very aggressive. It took me weeks to figure out what was going on, where they were attacking from, and then after I thought I'd stopped them, they'd attack again a different way. At least I got an education on internet security I won't soon forget.

In the meantime, a lot's been going on. The stupid sequester has ended all enjoyment of Summer air shows. The big Open House down at Klamath Falls I was planning on attending with my family was cancelled. The Oregon Air Show now has ZERO military entries, but they managed to raise the price anyways. Less show, raise the price... sure. Lots of people will show up anyway having paid $20 and getting plenty ticked there's nothing but civvie planes around. At least the Patriots (now the show's main performers) will be putting out agood show, but if it's too hot I might not even go to watch them.

In other news, Bill Sweetman, long time author, editor, writer and contributor to military aviation passed away recently. I actually got a little choked up when I saw the news in Aviation Week & Space Technology. I've been reading his stuff for 3 decades, easy. I have a handful of books from him. I always followed his articles and editorials in AW&ST, and it seems he also contributed to other periodicals. He was one of the few aviation authorities who, when you saw his name on a piece of information, you knew it was technically accurate down to the last bolt or whisp of air. I'm going to miss him.

The Montana Air National Guard was about to get all its jets shipped down to the California's Air National Guard, 144th Fighter Squadron. But the squadron got another reprieve before changing in its 9g turn-n-burners for heavy lifters, and the head of the MTANG says he intends to keep them there. Meanwhile, CANG has already had a couple celebrations over changing their F-16s for F-15s. Hmmm, I'll be watching this one.

On a more personal note, I have made another flight sim leap. I have shelved my LOMAC/FC2 for Strike Fighters 2. Let's face it, you can only take your wingman flying his steed out over the ocean `til his tanks run dry while you fight for your life against 4 Flankers so many times. And oh, yes, I will be posting screenies.

The new art I've been talking about, instead of having one big unveiling, will instead come in clumps and drips. The store has gone neglected while I was fighting the hacker battle, and some will simply have to wait `til next year, because they were air show themed wares. Well, maybe they'll make their way here anyway.