[ ](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/skating-on-the-rideau-canal.jpg) Ottawa- In an effort to ease congested traffic in the downtown core, the National Capital Commission in conjunction with City Hall, opened a 2.5 km stretch of the now frozen Rideau Canal skate-way to both skaters and commuter vehicle traffic. ...

** Update: ** Mauler won ! And he’s appearing as co-host on Regis & Kelly on Tuesday, January 25th. Congrats! Congrats to Hot 89.9 ’s Jeff Mauler, who’s one of ten finalists to co-host an episode or Regis & Kelly. ...

As seen on The Barber Shop : Have you ever wondered where the 67′s players live while they’re away from home and playing in Ottawa? We have a great group of families, our billet families, who open their homes and their hearts to make the players feel welcome and give the player’s mom and dad comfort in knowing that they are in a such a caring “home away from home” environment. ...

Local production company Blue Wave Films is looking for an Ottawa house to appear in a short murder mystery. They’re looking for a house with a direct entrance to a large living room, with a door/entranceway leading to a dining room (or another room). ...

[ ](http://ottawastart.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Outside_-_side-1.jpg.scaled1000.jpg) _ (Photo by Dennis Van Staalduinen.) _ Check out this fascinating web site about The Champlain Oaks . It tells the story of two dozen trees in Ottawa’s Champlain Park neighbourhood, near Island Park Drive. Some of them are estimated to be more than 200 years old, and are the descendants of a huge oak forest that would have covered the South shore of the Ottawa River before this area was settled. ...

Were you one of the few hundred people who stood around on Parliament Hill waiting for fireworks on New Year’s Eve , only to head home disappointed? Well there’s hope for next time, maybe. From an article in today’s Ottawa Citizen : ...

If you’re a fan of construction and heavy equipment, here’s an event you’ll want to check out on Saturday morning (Jan 8). Property development company Urban Capital is re-attaching the facade from the old Metropolitan Bible Church to the new Central condo building at Bank and Gladstone. ...

It’s official - the Rideau Canal Skateway opens on Saturday morning . The section between the Bank Street Bridge and Pretoria Bridge (the east side of the Glebe) will be open for skating at 8 a.m. A great website for tracking current skating conditions is canalconditions. ...

Looking through the list of [ app ideas submitted to the City of Ottawa ](http://apps4ottawa.ca/) . Some of the more unusual entries include: * "An app that displays the location of where I can warm my lunch in a microwave." [ http://apps4ottawa. ...

I enjoyed this post from Rose Simpson on her blog The $10 Life . An excerpt: Only in Ottawa would commuters blame the government for bad weather. Yesterday, there was a light smattering of snow on the highway, and there were dozens of crashes, and hundreds of irate motorists who took up to three hours to get to work. ...