Happy new year everyone! I know it’s now February, but with Christmas and New Year’s Eve being so busy with parties, decorating, eating and all of the other fun stuff that goes along with the annual festivities, I need to wind down for a month. So, my new year starts February 1^st.

It has been quite a while since I’ve written anything to share with you, but I want to start this year off fresh with a return to my weekly-ish posts to help you plan out your social life for the following 7 days.

For my longtime followers:  I won’t be going back to my old format, which included random stories, videos and jokes; that was pretty much just a pandemic thing. I’m going to use this space exclusively to promote the best of Ottawa!

For any new readers, my goal with this blog is to let you know what’s going on each week, and to point you in the right direction of which events are a must! My website features an all-inclusive events calendar that includes everything that I can find that’s happening in Ottawa each week. I update it daily so that the information stays up-to-date. You can find information and details on all of the events on the calendar with links to the event owner’s page. You can click here to see the full calendar!

This past weekend was cold. I don’t think I need to tell any of you that, but yikes. Too cold for WINTERlude?? That just seems so wrong! To make things more confusing, the canal wasn’t open because it has been too warm?? I get it, because I grew up here, but try explaining that logic to a tourist from down south!

The good news is that even though the outdoor festivities were shut down for a few days, the incredible indoor events continued on as planned! The Ottawa Ice Dragon Boat Race, despite having to cancel the actual races, still featured their concert series of free shows at the Rainbow. These included concerts by The Commotions, Rebel, and Amanda Rheaume, among others. Next weekend has some new acts as part of the same concert series, including ISØBE and The Peptides on Wednesday,  Mikhail Laxton, and Lynne Hanson on Thursday, Taming Sari, and We Were Sharks on Friday, Craig Cardiff and The Moonfruits on Saturday, and School House and The Lionyls on Sunday.

There are some other great concerts this week in Ottawa too! On Friday night, you can catch Lights at The Bronson Centre; Saturday, Disco Inferno will throw a party on stage at Overflow, and Sunday, Vance Joy will be performing at the NAC.

As for myself, I’ve come off of a busy week with several events, but I absolutely will not miss the SOPA Launch Party on Wednesday night at Queen Street Fare. This exciting launch of the new neighbourhood “South of Parliament” or “SOPA” will kick off the revitalization of our beloved Centretown. The event will feature delicious hors d’oeuvres from incredible gourmet chefs hailing from local restaurants, some fancy cocktails, and the opportunity to learn about what this revitalization entails. I’m looking forward to seeing who’s in attendance!

Also this week, I think I’ll make a pilgrimage out to Kanata to the place ‘where the busses don’t run,’ ( as per Cosmo on Chez106) and see what this Connor McDavid fella is like on the ice when his Edmonton Oilers visit the Senators. I haven’t made it out yet this year, so why not catch an afternoon game?

Then Sunday brings Superbowl Sunday, in case you weren’t paying attention. But that means lots of pizza, wings, beer, chili and expensive commercials, with some football in between. Oh, and let’s not forget the halftime show! Even non-football fans (ie: my wife) loves the game….well the first 17 minutes for the National Anthem (honestly, have you ever seen that sung so friggen’ slowly as they do for Superbowl?) which is being sung by Chris Stapleton this year, and then, as mentioned, the halftime show, featuring Rihanna and ‘special guests,’ who are still top secret, apparently! Entertainment for the whole family. As for the football, it hopefully will be a good game too! A close friend of mine is a huge Eagles fan, so I’ll cheer them on for his sake. (The real test of our friendship is: will I get a text from him when he sees this personal shoutout? Does he even read my posts?!) Also….the Chiefs eliminated my Bengals last week, so it’s revenge time!!

One last note on Super Bowl: as this week progresses, and I see more exciting events for the game, I’ll post them, but so far, not much has jumped out at me other than bar owners/promoters competing with each other over how many inches their screens are. I have found one event that stands out so far though: if you’re into stuffing your face until you want to vomit, may I suggest Queen Street Fare? They’ve got a special on! Their “Super Bowl of Food” event includes a large “mounds of” nachos, a dozen dumplings, 2 pounds of poutine, a 2-foot pepperoni pizza, and a 12” chocolate chip cookie all for $79 if you pre order. That’s reason enough to watch the game there! Oh….and they also provide a complimentary pack of Tums.

Well, that’s it for me and my 2023 inaugural blog post. I hope to keep having time to get these out regularly. My new year’s resolution is to keep this up and grow my audience this year, so hopefully you can help me with that by sharing with your friends, or talking about Covert Ottawa Guy at the dinner table with your families. I’ve got some big changes coming, some very soon, some a little down the line, but I’m confident that you’ll like them. It’s going to be a good year!

Thanks all, and have a great week!