Day one is in the can and uploaded. I am pretty happy with the result.
For those who are not aware, I will be shooting the architecture of Yale University. Yale is located in New Haven, Connecticut, and it is not in one contiguous area. It is spread out throughout a large portion of New Haven and in many case borders some rather sketchy areas.
My point is chiefly that it can be dangerous toting large amounts of camera gear around. New Haven ranks 4th Most Dangerous City, behind Flint, Michigan, Detroit, Michigan, and St. Louis, Missouri based on FBI crime statistics from 2010. New Haven had 1,584 violent crimes per 100,000 people and 628 robberies for every 100,000 people in the city, triple the national average.
This is one of the reasons why I've gone to Mu 4/3. Smaller, easier to conceal and in the case of the E-PL3 it can almost be mistaken for a compact. There are other reasons such as my back is not what it used to be, and frankly I like the smaller form factor.
In any event, one of the things I have been looking for is a ** very ** compact and light tripod to match the smaller cameras. I have a Benro Travel Angel which is a full-height, relatively compact tripod. But at 19" folded and about five inches in diameter, it is still WAAAAAAY too big and heavy to tote around New haven, and it has on occasion garnered a certain amount of unwanted attention.
After a lot of research, I was just pretty much striking out. I walked into my favorite brick and mortar in Burlington, Vermont and they had these on display:
See:
Amazon.com: Sirui T-005 Aluminum Tripod with C-10 Ball Head Kit (Black) Max Loading 8.8 Lbs: Camera & Photo
The photos do not do this tripod justice. It is very solid, has an Arca-compatible clamp and plate and is
extremely compact. Its folded length is 11.8 in and its max height with column extended 51.4 in. (!!) I think the smallest segment on the legs is 1 cm. - better than my Benro. With the column retracted max height is 44.5in. It weighs less than two pounds and supposedly will support over 8 pounds.
At 11.8 inches, this thing will fit easily in my Timbuk2 small messenger, and yet at 51 inches of height, I am unlikely to feel especially limited by the height. I'll probably do a review on this thing after I've had a chance to use it more in the field, but I am certain overall that this is my new favorite tripod as it is in every way the perfect match in form factor to Mu 4/3.
They also have a Carbon Fiber version, though overall I do not think that is a necessity for me.
Anyway, thought I would share that, as well as a safety from yesterday... this is how the New year dawned in my back yard yesterday...
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. This seems to happen easily when I pull the camera in and out of the bag. So I retraced my steps to re-shoot some of the shots. A few minutes later I see the low battery warning start flashing 
