It was a time of triumph, catastrophe and mere mediocrity in the world of business, like any other year, but perhaps the defining moment of 2004 came on Sept. 8 in the rain outside a Manhattan courthouse.

Frank Quattrone, fallen lord of the dot-com mania, emerged after being sentenced to one and a half years in prison for obstructing justice.

On the same day that Quattrone was sentenced, Classy Formal Wear of Montreal was declared bankrupt after 85 years in business, leaving 325 people all dressed up with no workplace to go to.

"The day of the independent tuxedo rental business is over," lamented Bob Young, the software tycoon and Hamilton Tiger-Cat football team owner who was a major investor in Classy.

Meanwhile, a hog operation powered by swine excrement was opened in March by the Cudworth Pork Investors Group of Cudworth, Sask. The $1.5-million methane digestion system provides 120 kilowatts of electricity, and also helps heat the hog barns.

The year also featured the denouement of a clash between the world's biggest software company and a Canadian teenage computer nerd. The mikerowesoft.com website surrendered its name in January. In return, Mike Rowe, 17, of Victoria got an Xbox game console from Microsoft, which had threatened legal action in a 25-page letter. A Microsoft spokesman acknowledged: "We may have stepped over the line in terms of taking an impersonal approach."

The soaring price of oil and the rise of China as a global industrial power made headlines in 2004. But here are some of the year's Canadian business oddities, in chronological order:

* Feb. 6: Agriculture Canada announced a new system to standardize descriptions of the taste of maple syrup. The so-called Flavour Wheel of Maple Products defines 13 "flavour families" including Floral, Spicy, Milky and Empyreumatic - the latter defined as a desirable "heated" scent. The 13 flavour families are subdivided into 91 attributes ranging from "sugar" to "sawdust.”

Canada produces 84 per cent of the world's maple syrup.

* March 23: Canadian Tire launched its wedding gift registry. "I think where Canadian Tire brings something new to the table are things like barbecues, all of the tools and hardware," said spokeswoman Jennifer Sexton. "We know, for instance, that tools are one of the top three items that are purchased within the first 12 months of marriage."

* March 29: CTV announces a deal to produce a movie or miniseries about the life of Conrad Black. The network, targeting a showing in the 2005-06 season, says it's too early to discuss casting.

* Aug. 3: Alberta's auditor general reports meatpackers have tripled their profit per carcass since the mad-cow crisis hit in May 2003, but says the companies did not unfairly benefit from $402 million in government aid. Instead, auditor Fred Dunn says, the 175-per-cent increase resulted from a "distorted market" in which cattle supply outweighed slaughter capacity while domestic and limited export markets remained strong.

* Aug. 31: Hollinger International accuses Conrad Black of using the company as a "piggybank" to maintain a lavish lifestyle for himself and wife Barbara Amiel Black. Among alleged company-paid personal expenses: A Gulfstream IV jet leased at more than $3 million US a year; $42,870 US for Amiel's 60th birthday party; $2,463 US for handbags; $24,950 for "summer drinks."

* Oct. 19: Air Canada, after emerging from a bankruptcy restructuring Sept. 30, presents its new colours at a glitzy airport spectacle headlined by Celine Dion. "All successful companies invest in their product and their image, and we've done precisely that after having dramatically changed the face of the airline," says CEO Robert Milton. The next day, flights in Eastern Canada and the U.S. were delayed by a reservation computer failure.