To our loyal customers:

2008 was a challenging year for many of us. Here, at eXtreme Restraints, we have worked harder in these tough economic times to maintain the level of service and quality products that you have grown to expect. You may have noticed, also, some improvements we have made to our retail store. These improvements were implemented to make your shopping experience easier and more enjoyable. They include:

• Over 500 new items added to our catalog this year
• 50 new categories
• Introduced new how-to product demonstration videos
• A clearance section for blowout deals
• The “Safe Words” behind-the-scenes blog

The slower economy has, also, led to more overstock items than last year. If you’re a bargain shopper, then this is the time to pick up some of these items at 30% off the lowest displayed price. Plus, you’ll get a 5% rebate with every order that’s good for the next order you make at eXtreme Restraints. That’s a total of 35%!

We want to personally thank you for your continued support. Our small consumer community has grown to over 600,000 customers since we opened in 2000. We couldn’t have done any of this without your feedback, ideas, support and love.

From our family to yours have an eXtreme New Year!

Warm Regards,

Ari Suss, President

So for its get-together, we Extreme Restrainters went out to the Lucky Strike Lanes to bowl, have after-hours drinks and enjoy each other’s company (well, two out of the three wasn’t bad — I’m kidding!). I remember last year’s big bowling event when our buyer Larry and I tried (albeit somewhat successfully) to bowl three games simultaneously (yes, that’s three games at the same time… can you say “arm is like a noodle!”).

Even though people who come bowling like to say that they’re not the best bowler in the world, I don’t think I saw anything too horrible. Well, Jennifer (from Sex Toy Distributing) might have something to say about that though considering that she was able to make the gutter her best friend. I think if she had Wii Bowling and 10 minutes though, she could kick all of our asses — in Wii Bowling

Now, the interesting thing about that night was that we were competing in decibel levels with the crowd that was there to watch the Lakers vs. Heat game. You know, the one where Kobe Bryant tried that last second shot that went in and shot right back out. Yeah, when I heard about that the first thing out of my mouth was “I know two people that I probably shouldn’t call on my cell phone right now”. My sister and one of my dear friends are avid, diehard, “What do you mean that was a foul?!” fans of the Lakers.

If I sound all spazzic writing this post is because there were so many interesting things that happened that night I figured why try to be all coherent, you know like I’m writing a story … what? … this is a blog post?… people actually read this? Oh my bad…

One of the highlights of our get-together was the elephant gift exchange. You know how these work: People bring gifts of a certain price range and then it’s a game of choose, steal and swap. Now if you’re working with a partner (ahem…Larry…ahem…Tish) then you can make out like bandits with what you want. You can also be a happy soul (ahem, Jennifer’s husband, cough) and make out like a bandit with a hot Gay DVD.

It was such a fun event…

Now as we look towards the upcoming New Year, let me know what you have planned for the NYE? Feel free to also discuss with me your hopes for the New Year (sexy or otherwise). Oh yeah, and tell me about interesting parties that you’ve been to (then explain to me why I didn’t get my invitation ;-)).

Now, in order to work in an environment like this, one has to have a pretty insane sense of humor. It’s not easy to be surrounded by dildos and vibrators and then try to make everything a person says sound legit and down the middle. It’s probably because I have a jazz musician’s background too. If you don’t know, jazz musicians have that sense of humor where we don’t just live in the gutter — we have condo communities there (with no homeowner rules!).

Case in point about this office: Someone could be down the hall and yell out “I don’t know where to put this thing?”. Now you know they could be talking about anything, but look at our office and tell me what do YOU think runs through our mind? So of course, the natural response is “Bring some lube with it and I’ll show you exactly where it goes.”

In my office space, there’s three other people with me. I don’t think there hasn’t been a day that’s gone by where we haven’t turned a normal conversation into the most X-rated, gutter-minded thing evar. Now, I’m not saying I don’t enjoy it. Quite the contrary, I keep telling them that I wish I could record these conversations and post them here so you can understand just how easy it is to make “What do you think of my box?” sound like one of the most awesome questions ever.

It’s actually gotten to a point in here that we don’t even try to make it “civil”. While we’ll still talk about tasks and strategy and things we need to do, we’re actually more surprised (read: disappointed) if the conversation didn’t take a sharp left turn at least once.

So what’s your office like? Do you guys have interesting office stories or atmospheres to talk about?

I’m proud to announce that Extreme Restraints has been nominated (for the second year in a row, mind you!) for Web Retailer of the Year by XBIZ. It’s quite the honor to have your operation recognized by the community.

Day in and day out, the people of Extreme Restraints work hard to not only offer the finest selection of sex toys and bondage gear, but we also make sure that items are packed and shipped on time, that you receive the utmost in customer service and that you enter, leave and return as a satisfied customer.

Woohoo! I’m offering fried chicken from Pizza Hut for everyone!

On my recent trip to Japan, I got to experience the Tokyo Ice Bar owned and operated by Absolut (yes, the vodka people). Now it probably wasn’t a smart idea to visit something called the Ice Bar when Japan is experiencing cold weather but I just totally had to check this place out.

First off, you have to reserve your space. On their website you have to essentially put yourself on a guest list – but what you’re actually doing is reserving a 45 minute timeslot to enjoy the place. I guess they don’t want you getting hypothermia and since the place is not that big they want to accommodate as many people as possible. So my homegirl and I reserved a 7:30pm slot. It wasn’t that difficult to find the place, but you totally can’t tell from the outside what to expect when you pass through the doors.

Well when you walk in you’re greeted (in a warm room) by the front desk staff. You pay your cover charge ($35) and are fitted with this poncho (alien) thing and some gloves. Then you walk through a door and you find yourself all of a sudden in the Arctic.

Now the $35 cover might sound steep, but you’re essentially paying for the poncho, the gloves and a free first cocktail – served to you in a glass completely made of shaved ice. I tried drinking the cocktail with my bare hand and didn’t feel too bad. I thought about licking the glass to see what would happen, but then I thought how embarrassing it would be to be in the ice bar with your tongue stuck to something? Oh, and the drink was mighty tasty and (of course) I forgot what it was called.

The music? Well I think it’s a canned stereo (or maybe satellite radio) that plays this electronica stuff over some speakers. I don’t think you can really be in there for the dancing. This is more of a mingle situation. And please, no one wants to hear jokes about how you were trying to pick up someone and they gave you the cold shoulder. Believe me, the guy behind the bar has heard them all.

Overall, I thought the Ice Bar was a great experience. In your own research I encourage you to also look up the Ice Hotel (yes, Ice Hotel). Prepare to be amazed. There are quite a few Ice Bars in the entire world. As I was researching where they were located I found out that there is an Ice Bar in Orlando, FL. The first Ice Bar in North America.

Here’s the official site, so you can find out more information about the Ice Bar and its current locations.

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