My search for the ideal travel tripod is never-ending. Innovative designs and improved materials have led to increasingly compact and lightweight offerings. Over the years I have bought and sold something like twenty tripods. At any given time, I usually own two; an ultra-lightweight one for hiking/travel and a more substantial one that I use for everything else. It has been several years since I last investigated the market for new entrants and I went down that rabbit hole again this weekend. Ultimately, I ordered two new tripods. The Ulanzi & Coman pictured above features an integrated inverted ball head design and very ergonomic controls. It weighs 2.46 pounds and may replace my 3.21 pound Really Right Stuff Ascend. Pictured below, is a very unique tripod that I found on Kickstarter from a new company called Heipi. It features a tripod within a tripod design that offers great versatility and superior center column rigidity. It is expected to begin shipping early next year.

On the soccer pitch this morning, my team lost 2-1 . Our only goal came in the final few minutes of play and was extremely satisfying. With a comfortable 2-0 lead, their goalie was using every opportunity to kill the clock. His teammates would play the ball back to his feet and he would just stand there and wait for one of us to approach and force him to put the ball into play. This is a standard tactic for a team sitting on a lead. In this case, however, each time I would chase the ball down, the keeper would taunt me telling me that I would never get the ball away from him. The taunting only served to amplify my motivation. With the clock almost expired and the goalie killing more time, I began another approach but this time correctly guessed where he was going to play the ball out. I intercepted the pass, beat my defender, and crossed the ball into the box where a teammate tapped it in. I could not resist thanking the goalie for the motivation to make that play. He had nothing to say in response.

I returned home for a belated birthday brunch featuring frittatas and rice pudding. Nico tested positive for Covid yesterday and was not able to join the rest of the family.