TAGQ (That's A Good Question)

Ben Johnston talks to his father Scott about improv comedy, forestry and landscaping, as well as computing, cooking, and music, and whatever else these characters are interested in.

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TAGQ (That's A Good Question)

Teacher Quiz

January 12, 2026 • Ben Johnston & Scott Johnston • Episode 45

0:00 | 39:35

We first fix a messy audio and move on to a discussion of modes of learning, how mentorship differs from lectures, and how campus culture shapes curiosity. A lost bag redemption story closes the loop with a reminder that service, done well, teaches too.

• fixing the audio and finding our rhythm
• tag‑team washer repair as hands‑on learning
• yoga flow, language quirks, and listening closely
• questions about draft age and civic logic
• teaching versus mentorship and impatience with lectures
• small groups, campus culture, and incubator classrooms
• airline misstep turned customer service win

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Fixing The Audio And Warming Up

Recording In Progress Lady 0:00

Recording in progress.

Scott 0:04

Yeah. Hey, how's the sound? It sounds good. You're getting the double talk?

Ben 0:17

Yeah.

Scott 0:20

Like you say a word and you hear it twice.

Ben 0:24

Correct.

Scott 0:25

Okay, let's see if we can change something about the settings to make that better.

Ben 0:35

Because like it could be so old.

Scott 0:38

And then it wasn't uh I got musician sound on. Let me turn that off. Come on. Okay. Audio. That shouldn't be here. Original sound. Uh let's see. Noise removal. Okay, let's try this. How about maybe I have to do it on my end.

Ben 1:12

Oh.

Scott 1:13

I don't hear anything anymore.

Ben 1:16

That did it? That did it.

Scott 1:19

Okay. Well, that's a very interesting beginning to this podcast where we resolved problems with our audio. And and the problem was we were trying to record like musicians. Should have known better.

Ben 1:41

You didn't tell me we were on air. Oh. But I guess the Zoom lady did.

Scott 1:47

You didn't, yeah. Did you hear it?

Ben 1:50

I'm just laying here on the couch. I'm not in a the right posture for this right now.

Scott 1:56

It's a podcast, though.

Ben 1:59

Yeah, but I don't know. It's like, haven't you have you ever tried to, you know, like write an important assignment for work while lounging on the couch? Okay.

Scott 2:10

Well, I can help you there. This is that this isn't that important.

Ben 2:18

Oh. Okay.

Scott 2:22

We're actually doing this for the for the fun of it. You you should know that.

Ben 2:27

Right. Right. Fun. Yes. Yes.

Scott 2:34

So by turning off I'm having fun. Okay. By turning off the musician sound mechanism on Zoom, now I can slurp my tea and you won't hear me.

Ben 2:54

I'm actually listening to music right now. Really? Again, because I'm just relaxing at home on the Saturday afternoon. There's music in the back. It's very quiet. Yes. But I can barely hear it. I just never turned it off, but let the album finish out. Yeah. Yes. I could not hear you flirt. I can't say the same for the listeners, but.

Scott 3:22

Are you uh this is like to do what Mark Marin, you know, pioneered. He just always used his podcast like chat for what was going on in his life for a moment before he got into the whatever other stuff, the heavier interviews.

Home Repairs And The Leaky Washer

Ben 3:44

Which and that's I guess that's not really how we've done it in the past, huh? Well, yeah. Sometimes it is, but never intentionally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are you uh going on in your life?

Scott 4:02

Oh. Just got through a couple days of of tag team home repairs. Oh. A new skill we're developing. That sounds exhilarating. Where your mother and I are collaborating on things that involve electricity and screwdrivers and water, and today we just we just debug the whole front end load front loading washer. Like, where is it leaking? And had to pull it out, open it up, run test cycles, look underneath it. And it looks like it's the number one suspect, which is just a leaky door jam. So you replace the the rubber liner or whatever it's made of.

Ben 5:07

Not just the over. Yes. The whole it's the whole skin of a door. Door skin. When we had a house full of with foreskin, you need to replace the door skin. Yes.

Scott 5:22

When we had a house full of kids, we would not collaborate on repair projects like that because someone had to be whatever doing the other household stuff. While I went off and tried to fix something.

Ben 5:41

Making sure that Legos weren't being thrown.

Yoga, Ears, And Language Oddities

Scott 5:48

Yeah. Or too aggressive wrestling was happening in areas surrounded by fragile figurines or something like that. Protect the property. Yeah. Yeah. And what have you been up to?

Ben 6:08

I was just doing a little bit of house. Well, not housework, yard work, actually. I got back to Seattle this morning after a few days on Whitby. Spent some New Year's with them. I spent a couple of days hanging out on the island. And then yeah, I came back this morning to Seattle. Went to the gym. Got I I showed up at the gym and I was showing up just in time for yoga. I was fully expecting to just do my own workout. And actually I saw a friend there and he said, Oh, you're here for yoga? And I'm like, no, is that happening? He's like, yeah, in about 13 minutes. I'm like, perfect. So I just walked into yoga and did yoga instead. And I came home and did some yard work. The sun is really nice. I'm procrastinating on uh Spanish Spanish homework. My pre-assignment for for class.

Scott 7:09

Is this uh is this a um a university gym or something else?

Ben 7:14

No, this is the the rock climbing gym. Oh that I continued to get a free membership at. It's a good deal.

Scott 7:23

Because I have friends that mean a dependent. Yeah. How long was the yoga session? One hour. One hour? Flow. Flow session is what they call it. Oh, slow. You mean you're bending and leaning.

Ben 7:43

Well, flow doesn't really mean slow. Well, there's power flow, there's flow, there's flow and restore, there's restore. Sorry. All going in, all that's not they're all on a spectrum of how intense and fast-paced they are.

Scott 7:59

That's interesting that my ears goofed up F and S.

Ben 8:05

Which must be the audio. Maybe we should troubleshoot.

Scott 8:09

No, I think it's my ears. But maybe we should troubleshoot. You know, in the past, there was no difference between F and S, like in English. They were thought of to be like the same sound.

Ben 8:24

There was Is that why like when you see really, really old written words, it seems like sometimes there's F in places where it seems like it shouldn't be, like at the end of a word.

Scott 8:37

Yeah. Or or or you see it written in old old English and it's an F, but it should be sounded like an S. Or I don't I don't know the exact etymology, but I do know that those run together. Yeah. I see, I see, I see, I see. Lately I was thinking about Q and how Q should just have the U in it because you never use a Q without a U for the most part. Why why why do we need the U after Q since it's even in the letter? It's Q, it's not qua. It's not qua.

Ben 9:26

There's really no gamble where there's no U following. There must be at least a couple. There's silence. There are silence use in Baroque, for instance.

Scott 9:40

Well that ends with Q U E.

Ben 9:43

Right. That's why I'm saying it's silent. Baroque.

Scott 9:50

But F and S and Q. What else can we talk about that's equally thrilling? P P the letter P. Uh-huh. You could talk about that.

Ben 10:09

Yeah. Yeah. But I don't think I will. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I'm back in Seattle.

Scott 10:20

And back in school. I'm over halfway done now with my degree. Frankly, today I did the math and like realized that all my sons are over 25 or soon to be older than 25.

Ben 10:49

I'm turning 30 this year. Yeah, I know. It is January 3rd, 2026, as we speak.

Scott 10:57

Because you can only get drafted up to being 25 years old.

Ben 11:03

No way. Yeah, it's the as the rules currently stand.

Scott 11:07

Current legal limit, yeah.

Ben 11:10

That wasn't the case. So that was different in like during Vietnam.

Scott 11:14

No, it was the same. If you were 26, you weren't gonna get drafted for Vietnam, I think. But it definitely the draft works with younger people in age. The draft works with younger people.

Ben 11:30

Younger people will show up. No, they just yeah. Why do they cut it off? I mean, obviously for physical reasons, but like a 30-year-old is still playing spry. It's because they're thinking or maybe they're at a point in their career where they're too useful economically.

Draft Age, News Shock, And Civic Questions

Scott 11:54

I don't know why. Why would why would that kind of national service be be only compulsory for children?

Ben 12:08

Well young adults. Yeah. Young adults.

Scott 12:16

I don't know, it's a I think it's a thing that older people who vote more could get behind. Like yeah, let's just make the young people do it.

Ben 12:28

And maybe you haven't read the news, but we we went in and the United States captured the president of Iran.

Scott 12:46

Venezuela.

Ben 12:47

Venezuela.

Recording In Progress Lady 12:48

Yeah.

Scott 12:50

Yeah.

Ben 12:52

Oh man. Wow. No, I checked the news yesterday morning. That was the last time I checked the news. Wow.

Scott 13:02

So likely outcome is you know lots of things. Well, it's just likely. It's likely not the lead to peace. Let's put it that way.

Do We Want To Teach Or Mentor

Ben 13:14

It's a good it's a very diplomatic way of putting it. Yes. Ironically, very diplomatic way of putting it. So that's you know, last time I asked you if you asked you about teachers. I'm sure I've asked you that before. But I realized I was really meaning to ask you, but because my memory is not what it used to be, because my I you know, because life. I was going to ask you if you wanted to be a teacher. Good question. Or if so, why? That's not a good question. Why not? That's a good question.

Scott 14:07

I want I think I figured out my orientation is like more than I would like to be in like a master apprentice role. Where the master doesn't have the obligation of you know giving a mindless curriculum to the person he's teaching. Instead, the apprentice has the obligation to learn from just the experiences that the master puts them through. So I yeah, I kind of don't, I'm not interested in the like I'm just gonna get up and talk and write on the chalkboard and here's all the content. And you can blame me if I don't for anything I don't convey here, you can say, well, they didn't teach me that. And that's like that's not my orientation. It's more like your orientation is not to be held not to use a presentation-based way with tests to help others grow in their knowledge. I'd more want to do the mentorship. Let's try and do something together and and we'll learn through the process, and you'll learn what I know as we tackle these new things. That's what I want to be. Well, let's try it again. That's the number one skill in in coaching a band workshop. It's just, yeah, that was good. Let's try it again. How about you? What's your orientation on teacher? Because the teacher, whatever, genes flow differently in this family.

Ben 17:08

Teacher genes flow differently in this family. Yeah.

Scott 17:13

As compared to your grandfather was a teacher. Yes. Your brother. Um your brother is a teacher. Or likes the teaching thing. I enjoy teaching. Yes.

Ben 17:26

I do. Has it ever been a dream of mine? I wouldn't say so. Yeah. Do I I feel like I'm I feel as though I'm particularly well suited for it. Pretty good at it. Uh-huh. Do you like I would like to be a mentor, but I need to find a mentor myself before I do any of that.

Scott 17:56

Do you like taking a topic and like presenting it in a structured way to an audience who's learning from you?

Ben 18:15

Yes. I've done it a few times and I'd say.

Scott 18:27

Yeah, my my underlying emotion is always like, hey, hey, why do I have to organize this all? We could just get this information transferred in a different way. That's always my underlying feeling.

Ben 18:42

So well, a little bit of structure is good. Yeah, a little bit. But knowing, but being able to kind of just allow it to be your guideposts. But then having the freedom to kind of convey and teach as you as you will.

Scott 19:01

I'd rather I'd rather coach a lab than teach a than teach a lecture.

Ben 19:11

Yeah. Right. I I would generally agree with that. Some lectures are fun though, because there's a lot of space for questions. And then it becomes more of a discussion, discussion-based sort of course. Yeah. But it really depends on the teacher that's up front doing it, you know. I like I like both. I do think I like having something to fall back on because I feel like with a presentation, I'm able to tell a little bit more of a story. Yeah. That's the like and I'm able to think think ahead of time alike some things that I really want to hit home.

Scott 19:52

That's a whole orientation that I recognize and respect and kind of know it's not me.

Ben 20:02

I don't know why. That's another question for another day. Another day. A different room.

Scott 20:15

Well, it wasn't the question you asked. Like, why don't you want to be a teacher? You didn't ask that.

Ben 20:21

Well, I said, if not, why not?

College Culture, Small Groups, And Real Learning

Scott 20:23

Oh, you did. I did I did say. Yeah. Good question. Probably a form of impatience. That's a good question. It's probably impatience. It's like I get bored with my own talking about what I know. I just want to get to the meat of it. Like let's let's program that or let's play that or let's you know just being overly focused on succeeding at the consume lecture and take test activity. Yeah. I think teachers are more showmen. Not that I don't like to be a showman, but you know I'm kind of like being in the background, not the foreground. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe I'm lying. But or if I'm the person in the foreground, it's like I don't want any questions. Just listen to the performance, okay?

Ben 21:31

And clap when it's done. Yeah. I think there are I think there are a lot of different ways to teach. But it also sounds like you're wanting more one-on-one relationships with your your your protitions and students. Yes. So you're a professor, you would probably like it when someone showed up to your office hours and wanted to actually just have a conversation rather than getting their homework done. Yeah, dig into the topic.

Scott 22:06

Yeah.

Ben 22:06

Yeah. Just something that I really like. Last time I was doing shrooms, I think of this sort of thing when I'm doing psychedelics sometimes. Where like, wow, school and college is so amazing. It's like you're paying for the space to like surround yourself with all these other people that just really want to learn and really want to do cool stuff in the world. You're paying for like almost an ink incubator space. But that's oftentimes like not what it feels like, you know. And I think at its best, that's what a university education should be. Or at least a very big component of it. But I think it's hard to find that. You know. At least I I find it difficult to find.

Scott 22:58

That might be the short answer to why I don't want to be a teacher, is because I want to be a student more.

Ben 23:06

Yeah, but being a teacher means that you get to be there your entire life and that you have no time limit. And you can facilitate it and create your classroom to be more like that. My favorite classes have been the ones where that's kind of what it feels like. It's like half of its discussion questions in your small little groups. And that's why I liked Will Amit a lot more than UW, was because whenever we got in our small groups, it seems like people were just a little more passionate. Whereas I think in UW, I'm experiencing a lot of people that are pretty apathetic about the topic. And they just don't really but every once in a while I'll find myself in a table where it's like, oh, these are this is a this is a very bright table that we have here. Not bright in terms of like how intelligent they are, although that's often true, but bright in terms of just like they're excited about talking about this stuff and learning from each other. But it's hard to find that space for some reason. Maybe, maybe I would have an easier time of it if I was just, I don't know, a landscape architect student or something instead of a forestry student. People are I think people are a little more driven by money in this program that I'm in, perhaps. Instead of just like pure excitement about like the topic.

Scott 24:38

Yeah, the the college I went to was as big as the University of Washington. And you know, and that's where I went my freshman year. And I had no expectation of any personal connections through the classroom. And pretty much there weren't because classes were big, you know. Right. A thousand people and intro to psych, you know. So the connections all came through the living situation through the dorm. But that's what I expected, and and it's kind of what I wanted to. I kind of wanted to get whatever be in the city. Not that I live that far outside of the city, like a couple miles, but but within walk of city town, yeah, cool neighborhoods.

Ben 25:49

It's a very yeah, very different than growing up a few miles away in a little suburb. I mean, it's a world difference really.

Scott 25:56

The commute, the commute was not a drag, but you know, it's a bit of work, but not commute. My first year I didn't commute. No, no, say, sorry. My first year I commuted and then I moved into the dorm. And life has been good ever since. Ever since that first fateful night away from home. Life has been only good ever since. My mom didn't want to come out of the bedroom when I was ready to drive my cougar off to school. When you moved out. When I moved out the first time as a bit of 19 year old. She didn't want to say goodbye. She didn't want to face after the fact that I was moving somewhere else for the first time.

Ben 27:08

Well to go make some friends in the dorm room. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, I think my undergrad felt quite different.

Scott 27:31

Yeah. Well, you consciously chose a smaller place where even though you weren't in the It's so interesting. Cool dorm. You you still made connections.

Ben 27:48

Yeah. I'm trying to remember what it was like as a high schooler and what my decision was to be in a smoke-free, alcohol-free dorm? Living space. It was just was it just purely that I was so into healthy living that I just said, or I just wanted to make friends with people that weren't into it? Was I just scared of Peter and how much he drank and smoked? Was I afraid of not getting any sleep? Was it because I was really, really ready to just focus on school and then learn as much as I could and become a I don't know what.

Scott 28:31

I think that one.

Ben 28:32

I was just really, really recognized.

Scott 28:34

I think you didn't want the distractions of what you'd heard about. Yeah, it's party party schools.

Ben 28:40

Yeah. And I hadn't, and I hadn't ever I had never smoked and I had never drank before then also, so it's like, well, that sounds scary to me. Of just being kind of like thrown into the fire. Yeah.

Scott 28:56

Are you wishing the parents sti stepped in and go, Ben, Ben, you want to be in the party, don't no?

Ben 29:02

I don't know if I, you know, really regret the decision. It probably because I've heard of nightmares of roommates that are that are a whole lot worse than what I you know encountered when I you know my my roommate situation was just non-traditional in terms of what people often experience in their first year of college. But I wouldn't necessarily trade that for something on the opposite side of the spectrum in terms of yeah, people's substance substance use. Wow, this is cool.

The Ten‑Minute Timer Gag And Airline Setup

Scott 29:38

How we've been talking, and already the 10-minute timer has come up. The 10-minute timer's here. Just let the let the listeners know you only have to deal with 10 more minutes of us.

Ben 29:55

That's right. They have no idea how thank yeah, we gotta really keep them in the loop on how long they have left because they're kind of just it's like one of those videos online that try to sell you weight loss drugs. Click on the link, and there's a video, and it doesn't tell you how long and you can't pause it. And you just well, you can pause it, but you can't fast forward or rewind. It just goes.

Scott 30:21

Well, I I always see that in a 10-minute left timer, dude. Like, oh, we get it. What's who are we sponsoring this this podcast?

Ben 30:36

We are sponsoring United Airlines. Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Scott 30:45

For their abnormal performance on your label. Abnormal performance. You want to tell the tell us what happened?

United Lost The Bag And Redeemed It

Ben 30:53

Years ago, there was their abnormal performance, or they beat someone up and dragged them off a plane. So now they're kind of like, well, maybe we should swing the other direction. Let's be extra nice. What happened was I was home in San Carlos, California for the holidays. And I got a lot of amazing Christmas gifts. I got a mandolin slicer from Adam, my younger brother. And amongst other things, that wasn't the only thing that was in the suitcase. And so we paid for a bag. And first off, I showed up at the airport and I was standing in line, and the woman said, Sir, you can you can move up. You can you can you can go up to the counter. And I said, No, I'm sorry, I'm just waiting for my I'm looking for my ID. I don't know where my ID is. So that's a this is not really related to that. But I left my fanny pack and your car, and so mom had to turn around and drive me my fanny pack back, which had my ID in it. And finally, anyway, I got my ID back half an hour later. And I checked my bag and I proceeded to my destination, and then I found out as I landed that they had forgotten my bag in Seattle, and it was loaded on to the wrong plane. But it was really showing up an hour and a half later. So I could have, if I wanted to, just spent an extra 90 minutes at the airport, and my bag would have, you know, showed up. But they said follow this link. You can either arrange for pickup at the airport, or we will deliver it to any address of your choosing. And so I decided to have them deliver my bag to an address of my choosing. And I just filled in the details. I was going straight to Whidby to go celebrate New Year's, and I was gonna be there for a few days. And so I filled out the temporary address, the Widby address, and then I filled out my permanent address in Seattle. And I was like, wow, I I wonder how long this is gonna take. This is this is wild. Like, this is this is the second time this has happened to me, too. Like, people have lost my bags. I guess it's a somewhat normal thing, but I so I went home to Whitby and I only had one change of clothes, and it was just like, oh boy, this is gonna be this is gonna be a great few days. I'm already smelly. And people were just like, oh, like, don't worry, we got you. And I borrowed pajamas, and they were that morning, the next morning, I woke up and was New Year's Day. New Year's Day. This was the morning day on holiday. I was getting ready to borrow more underwear, and then I checked my phone and I got two emails and two texts. The first one was at like five in the morning saying, like, your bag is out for delivery. And then the next one said that your bag was delivered at this this morning at 9.08 a.m. And it was like 9.24 when I was looking at my phone. And I'm like, really? And I was sleeping in the living room right next to the front door, and they're like thin walls, and I was laying awake, you know, for a little while, just resting in bed. I didn't hear anything. And I opened the door, and it was literally like if if if if it was a snake, it would have bit me.

Scott 34:39

I opened the opened the door, and my big duffel bag was sitting right there in front of me. So at five in the morning on a holiday after New Year's Eve, they got this bag underway, and maybe it even had to take a ferry to probably had to take a boat, yes. Or it could have gone through Anacortis again, which is adds about two hours to the trip, I think. But yeah. Yeah, it does. Yep.

Ben 35:13

Yeah, it's not a cheap ferry ride for a for a van either. And well, what do you think about it? Maybe, maybe other perhaps, yeah. Maybe they do it efficiently. But they they it looks like they contract with a company called the Parcel Butler. So it's probably some like rapid, like first class sort of transportation for like when you need to order a package or need a package or like a bicycle sent across state lines or whatever. Yeah. So thanks, United. And then the next afternoon, they sent me a text saying that the checked bag fee was refunded to the credit card. So not only did they deliver it for free, I and it's also meant that I got on an earlier ferry to get to Whitby because I didn't have to deliver it.

Scott 36:11

You didn't have to haul your own bag.

Ben 36:13

And I didn't have to haul my own bag, it just showed up. Yeah. Yep. So win win win. They probably they probably spent as much as my ticket was worth to get that delivered to me. Yeah. Yeah.

Closing, Gratitude, And Open Invite

Scott 36:27

So thanks, United. Thanks, United. Now we have a we have a positive story to tell about the airline. Yeah. When we everyone brings up the you know, it's no well known for always delays, delays, delays. So if you're flying from San Francisco to LA, it's not really clear that United will you got a 50-50 chance that you'll get there faster on United over driving. But yeah, maybe it's better now. Well, your your flight was too late. My flight was delayed, but I have to leave this because they're sponsoring them. We have to leave it positive, so it's like. Why don't you sing the theme song to end it? What's the United song?

Ben 37:19

It's uh they have they have a really they have a they have a nice little safety video these days. It's like a little rude bold Goldberg machine that they follow around and as they talk about the safety features of the F. They try so hard to make it's it's really it's a jingle that doesn't quite stick in your head. It kind of sounds like you know the beginning of some like theatrical, you know, introduction or something. Yeah. I guess I can't even try it. That was good. That was good. But I try to play it. Yeah. Okay.

Scott 37:58

Fly in the friendly skies or whatever. It's just gonna convert into the Simpsons theme to me. They gave me a stream.

Ben 38:06

Yeah. They almost always have in-flight entertainment too.

Scott 38:13

Yep. Speaking of speaking of the Simpsons. Nah, I got nothing. I got I got nothing. You're gonna speak about the Simpsons with one minute left. That's a big topic.

Ben 38:24

I just I just need a a way to end the commercial and and speaking of the Simpsons. Check out our in-flight entertainment. We hope you'll enjoy your next flight. Yeah, wow, they really got us there. They they yeah, they hooked us in. Yeah. Yeah. Just like every other podcast at this point. Yeah.

Scott 38:48

I think this is just gonna be an outro sponsorship, which means I only have to put the interstitial music in once. Yeah. So yeah. Thanks, United. Good to talk to you. You got you got me home. Yeah. Got me home. Made the new year celebration great.

Ben 39:07

Yeah. Here's to our favorite teachers and our favorite flight of attendants and our favorite pilots. Here's to a new year. Reach out if you ever want to be a guest. We'd love to have you on. That's right.