I worked as a full-time journalist for 15 years in the 1980s into the early 2000s, and for the most part my full-time beat was covering general news and politics.

(Yeah, I have covered a lot of sports, too, but with a few years exception mostly on a part-time basis).

One of my most memorable days came in the late 1980s when I interviewed George H.W. Bush at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee for United Press International. With the former president's recent passing it has brought a lot of remembrances.

It was the last time I was nervous for an interview. I was in my early 20s and I thought I'd be simply covering a speech from the back of the room. One of Bush's aides pulled me aside at the end of his speech and said I'd be with a group of a few journalists sitting down with the elder Bush in just a few minutes. I had no idea something like that might happen and was taken aback. I wasn't as prepared as I like to be.

I plopped into a chair at a small circular table in a back room with four other journalists. Bush quickly came in and set right next to me, unlike me totally at ease. I asked a couple of softball questions, leaving the veteran journalists to ask stronger queries, and Bush became animated while jovially answering. I don't recall exactly what was discussed but my strongest memory is that he was so close and so animated that his foot accidentally (softly) kicked my leg without him realizing it. Over and over again. "George Bush is kicking my leg!" is what  was going through my mind (not so much thinking about what question to ask next. Haha!).

I survived, and thought, 'Well if I can get through that I can get through any interview.' I have hundreds of old news clips stored in our basement. I hope I have one from that day, but I haven't been able to find it online.

I had a second chance to interview President Bush, this time in 1992, but it went for naught. It was the weekend before the election and George and Barbara took a Saturday whistle-stop train ride through Wisconsin, traveling to eight cities.

I covered the beginning of the train tour in Burlington in Racine County, and one of the president's communications folks told me at the event there was a decent chance I'd get an interview if I hopped on the train and traveled with the president. Another last-minute chance to talk to him, and this time I had no nerves. It seemed like a great opportunity to give our readers some last-minute insight into the president's mind just before election day.

I found a pay phone and called my editor, who had little interest in that possible interview. So, I drove back to the Kenosha News and wrote up a story on the scene from Burlington and the president's speech from the back of a red, white and blue decorated "Spirit of America" train. Looking back, I should have just hopped that train and let the chips fall where they may in Kenosha (I had no ride back to my car, etc., in Burlington so it was complicated). It's a big journalism regret there as nearly every journalist on the train got an interview. Never should have made that call to the office.

Speaking of nerves, I have a little health update. I'm on the upswing, back to work (from home - thank you to Marquette for allowing me to do that for awhile), and getting stronger seemingly every day.

In my last post, I mentioned that a CT scan found cancer in my liver for the first time since my initial diagnosis. The docs knew to give me the scan because my blood numbers were showing liver damage. It was incredibly unsettling news and is very serious.

I had a new round of chemo four weeks ago, and had blood tests last week before undergoing a second round of chemo. The good news is that my liver numbers through the blood tests (taken three weeks after the first round of chemo and before the second round) were completely back to normal, a strong indication that this new chemo treatment is effective.

Of course, we won't know for certain until I undergo another CT scan, which is scheduled in about five weeks. That is going to be a nervous time in early January (I'm already mentally preparing for the anxiety).

Right now, I'm feeling great, with the exception that my hemoglobin is low and I run out of breath quickly when walking with my walker (I have a dropped foot due to the cancer impacting a nerve in my L5 vertebrae). I'm likely to get another blood infusion on Tuesday (all day at the hospital - gonna be a long day) to boost that hemoglobin. 

I have no pain right now, which is huge for my quality of life. I'm going to PT and OT five days a week and I'm appreciating my friends and family as much as I can. Thank you to everyone who helps me. Stephanie and Genevieve wait on me without complaining and I'm sure it's not easy. I'm hanging in there and am looking forward to the months and years ahead, God willing.

I recall reading an article about a time when George H.W. Bush became nervous in the White House. It wasn't during the first Iraq War or during any other time of crisis. He was hosting baseball greats Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio and the thrill of celebrity made him timid and uneasy. It can happen to anyone -- even someone who repeatedly kicked me in the leg.