back to basics

Whenever I try to go to a new function in my controller, index() reruns. In index() I am calling $this->report_generator_amazing() which displays my dashboard. Could this be the reason I can't seem to display anything but the dashboard? I don't think it worked this way when I was using my local apache, but I could be wrong. Besides showing my dashboard, there is a function call in index() that downloads some images from s3. I really only want to do this once. 

So, can someone tell me, does _init() run every time I go to a new method in my controller? I am just getting confused.....

How can I get index not to run EVERY time?

proof that an old dog can learn new tricks