Learning at Thirty

Since I purchased my bass guitar, I have been practicing as much as my little fingers will allow. Who knew you needed so much left pinky strength to play? And such big hands to reach all the frets at the same time?

At this point, I know which string is which, and I can play that bastion of musical prowess, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in the keys of D and E. I can also play the bass line to the verses of Big Bad John, but the chorus still eludes me at this point. I'm trying to have the discipline to spend a few minutes on hand strength, a few minutes on fundamental pattern learning, and a few minutes on fun stuff each practice session -- playing along with iTunes, trying to figure out which notes fit and so forth. However, my expectation is that my resolve will weaken in the coming weeks, after the initial newness wears off.

So, I'm going to be looking for a teacher. It may seem like a copout, but I figure I need to learn some basics pretty quickly, and I'd rather learn them right than spend years doing things wrong and then having to unlearn those bad habits. Being an adult looking for a music teacher is going to be a bit different than looking for one while a student. I have a couple of sources that I think I can look at for teachers, but I feel like I should interview one and figure out if I'm going to hate them before signing up. But I find I have no idea what to ask in an interview of a potential bass teacher. Any ideas?