Off-The-Cuff

The live album The Last Waltz and the same-named Martin Scorsese film, in part, helped score my late teen and early college years with a sentimental spot, where brain synapses still connect with other synapses to contain all my best ‘70s memories.

You will just have to wait patiently for the unveiling of our 2015 Connect Business Magazine Business Person of the Year, which our annual panel of Minnesota State University College of Business professors has already chosen. You can read all about their choice in our January 2015 issue. What a crop of nominees we received this year!

Now to the rough: The editor had an eye-opening moment after reading details on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision allowing family-owned Hobby Lobby, under the Affordable Care Act, to opt out of having to offer insurance coverage for certain contraceptives the company believes cause abortions.

July 4, 1776, was the date leaders of a hodge-podge collection of British colonies decided to thumb their collective nose at globular King George and form a fledgling nation.

For years, I’ve been a Dayton supporter and couldn’t have been happier following Dayton’s progressive moves over the last couple months. I’m a University of Dayton alumnus and was tickled pink about their NCAA Cinderella run. Honestly, how many of you thought I was referring to Gov. Mark Dayton? Below, I have different from usual reading fare.

This issue marks our 20th anniversary profiling southern Minnesota’s most interesting business decision makers. What a perfect opportunity to give a shout-out to Enventis and Manpower, businesses that have advertised (pgs. 3 and 51, respectively) with us every issue since March 1994.

Our January 2014 issue means another Business Person of the Year award winner. The professors at the Minnesota State College of Business have done yeoman’s work the last ten years objectively judging our awards from nominees sent in by readers in September.

I paid $99 and sent spit to genetic testing service 23andme.com to learn about potential health problems that could harm and hurt over the next decade. Besides discovering a few genetic anomalies, such as a strong predisposition toward celiac disease, I also found out about being an African American.

It’s September again? It seems like yesterday when last September arrived, just days after family vacation and the usual lazy summer.