Microsoft made headlines by laying off employees for the first time. Unfamiliar with this aspect of the business cycle, Microsoft overpaid several departing employees-and then asked for the money back, at least initially. If you're likely to walk the plank of your employer's corporate jet, it's helpful to know how to deploy your golden parachute. Some prefer a self-fashioned severance-helping themselves to sensitive corporate information.

Parking further away than the doorstep may seem inconvenient at first but it's actually a strategy to get blood circulating and oxygen to the brain. The added distance may translate into several pounds of weight loss over the course of a year - depending on your daily diet. Once at work there are several things you can do to burn calories and keep your muscles active.

Niagara is Canada's fastest growing wine region and Rosedale's skeptics will quietly agree that it has nowhere to go but up, up and up. Rather than swanning around the dinning room of a fine-dining establishment, this sommelier became a wine maker by studying a Winery and Viticulture Technician Program. Now he's a rising star, fingered as one of the Top 30 Under 30 in Canada's food and beverage industry.

There's got to be an upside to all this doom and gloom in the news about the economy. Sure, losing a job is a big deal-a major monkey wrench in a household's planning and retirement. However, the most enterprising among the recently unemployed are taking this opportunity to reinvent themselves. Some are even attempting what they've always longed to do. After all, staying in the house all day may mean losing your mind.