I looked the man in the eye and asked him his favorite movie.
"Rudy," he said with a quickness that gave it a full amount of certainty.
I asked what CD is in his car stereo.
"Not sure I have a CD in right now," he said before adding he mostly listens to Kirk Franklin's Praise Channel 64 on XM radio.
"When did you go full-time bow-tie?" I asked. He said he was a sporadic "bow tie guy," but wore one "always" on Sundays. I wondered how long it took him to learn to tie the confounding neck-wear.
Jay Greeson"Learning how [to tie it] wasn't that hard. But the first couple of times were interesting. YouTube was very helpful."
To say these are interesting times for Dr. Bryan Johnson is so mild that plain toast seems controversial by comparison.
Johnson, if you didn't know, is the new superintendent of Hamilton County's public schools.
Johnson, if you didn't know, has the toughest turnaround this side of an 18-wheeler trying to navigate the W Road.
Some of our schools are in trouble. Some schools want to break away. Some schools could be taken over by the state. Some schools well you get the idea.
But for the first time in a half dozen years, a new superintendent truly means new.
The Board of Education made the proper call to go outside the system to hire Johnson instead of a career Hamilton County educator.
And he has hit the ground running. And sitting, smiling, shaking hands and, likely most importantly, listening.
Johnson has had sit-downs with every bigwig this side of the governor. He meets more than Oscar Meyer - and he's only been on the job officially eight days.
And you know what?
For the first time in a decade, I believe there is reason to believe again when it comes to Hamilton County public schools.
Johnson used a lot of familiar words and covered a lot of the big topics in a meeting with newspaper writers at the Central Office on Wednesday.
But those words and thoughts generated optimism, at least from me, and I'm not sure there has been anyone who has thrown more stones at Bonny Oaks in the last year than you know who.
Johnson said "work" eight times. He said "focus" at least that many, if not more. He spoke of an engaged community and the positivity that can come from that. He spoke at length about leadership and infrastructure and a willingness to address specific problems with system-wide focus.
It was refreshing.
Still, there must be changes made at a lot of levels across this system. And that overhaul in leadership needs to happen sooner rather than later.
Johnson aced the question when pressed on timelines and how long he has before the honeymoon fades and he needs to show the community change is possible, even if he thought he skirted the question.
"I don't think I can give you a timeline," he said, "and I'm not trying to dodge the question. What I can say is this: We're going to do what's right for our kids, and we are going to do it urgently."
After meeting our new superintendent, I couldn't help but be reminded of a familiar story my grandfather always used to tell.
"There are two types of people in this world, boy," Pawpaw Greeson would say. "Those who complain about the big pile of trash and how it smells, and those who grab a shovel and try to do something about it."
After 45 minutes Wednesday, I firmly believe Johnson is fully prepared to grab a shovel.
Bow tie and all.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.