The new Avanti Bare

I was so mad when Durex took the Avanti off the market. I understand that the polyurethane condom, which was safe for people with latex sensitivies, had its problems: it was slightly noisy (although nothing like its polyurethane sibling Reality) and if you didn't use enough lube it had a tendency to break, but on the whole it was a good fit for folks like me. One of the common complaints about Avantis is that they were "baggy"; I like to think of them as sufficiently roomy, and so was disheartened to learn that I might have make do with the Trojan polyurethane line, "Supra."

Then Durex came out with Bare. Bare is a polyisoprene condom, and it's Durex's replacement for the Avanti. Polyisoprene is an artificial organic rubber similar to the chemical makeup of latex, but missing the proteins that cause allergic reactions in people sensitive to latex.

They're not bad. The base is tight so it has a good grip, but the head and part of the shaft is still roomy enough for those of us who like it when condom doesn't strangle our faithful soldier to insensitivity. It stayed on for the whole event and transmitted sensations well enough.

The odd part was that although the box read "Bare" and was all factory sealed, the contents inside, although the condoms were distinctly not Avantis, the wrappers were printed with the Avanti logo and label. I wonder when they're going to fix that.

Started well, ended well, the middle was meh

I had an amazing night last night (see previous post) with a beautiful woman that kept me out way too late. I slept in until almost nine, at which point we had leftover waffles and pancakes from the freezer. After a brief run of errands, we came back and I went to work outside. Today was a classic Seattle El Nino winter day: most of the time it's terribly wet and rainy, but of the thirteen weeks of winter or so, one or two are often so warm every day feels like the day right before spring.

The gutters of my own home needed doing, so I climbed up on the roof and that's what I did. It's kinda high up there, on the second floor, and the seat of my pants soaked through from sitting on the moss that was forming up there. I chipped a lot of the green stuff away.

After that, I finished the job of cleaning out the drainpipes that run under the garage. Whoever thought that the garage door should be at the bottom of a slope was an idiot. The drainpipes had so badly clogged with water that a blackberry vine had started to live in there. I snaked out the pipes and dug out the muck and had flow and was happy.

I also power-washed about a quarter of the driveway that leads down to the garage. That was something else that's needed doing; the third parking slot has been unuseable since the moss grew thick last summer.

Kouryou-chan played with her friends all afternoon, and Omaha took down the last of the Yule lights and swept a lot of moss off other portions of the roof.

I napped for about an hour, then sat up and just surfed for a while. I had the strangest craving for a brownie, so I made a batch which turned out really good.

We went out to a Thai restaurant for dinner, then came home, put the kid to bed, played some Quake. A good day, just wished I hadn't surfed away three hours or so.