Quote him, "You know, I'm not that cold."

I still call John the BBE, even though he won't live in Milwaukee with me because of the weather. And I pretend he's speaking ancient Egyptian when he says he doesn't ski or like going to the mountains in winter. Heck, he says himself that he won't go in any kind of weather that doesn't begin with a "7". So, you can imagine my bewilderment when he said, "You know, I'm not that cold."

Why? Because it was snowing out and he had just participated in a snowball fight!

I got hijacked yesterday. Happily so. I was struggling midday from a night of no sleep. My brain spinning with ideas for new websites to build. Nice, but it was 3:30 a.m.. I took my pillow to the bathroom and sat in the empty bathtub doodling on a legal pad, downloading pics, IM-ing with my potential TV co-host in Canada, and and and. It was a nutty night, and I paid dearly for it the next morning. I had one hand on my last Revive vitamin water, and the other hand on the keyboard, when John called. He said his workmates from the office wanted to take me to an interesting lunch, and I should come over as soon as possible.

We went to the old mill which has been turned into a thriving traditional Lithuanian restaurant. It is on a big piece of property with a river flowing through it. There was snow everywhere, and the hearth inside made for a cozy lodge feel. We had Lithuanian alcohol, beer, grub (I had zeppelins), and afterwards we walked around to the waterfall.

If you look closely in the photo of the snow fight to the right, you'll see that it's John that's getting hit by one snowball with another one coming. Trust me, that's him. In the original photo you can see the "Poker Stars" writing on his jacket.

You know—I think the reason John didn't feel the cold was because he was having fun. I was really shocked when we got back to the car and he said that he wasn't that cold. I made sure that he said it again so that his workmate could hear him. Then, I asked if we could get it in writing.

Here is a group of the guys, mostly behaving. And another one that we took after driving a little ways down the road. They took us here so we could see the mill from above. You can imagine that this is quite the party in the summer. There were picnic areas all around the river. I would say that I'd love to see Vilnius in the late Spring, or Summer—but you know that already.

And lastly, the happy traveler took a self-portrait. I was trying to get the view behind me, but I guess my arms were too short. That's ok, I like how artsy it turned out.

Current: Vilnius, Lithuania
Next: Amsterdam, Holland (Monday night, Feb. 6)
After that: Deauville, France (Tuesday night, Feb 7-12)