Saturday, July 07, 2007

SOMETHING ELSE - The Publication


Tucson, Arizona. 07/07/07 has arrived, and I keep my promises. Something Else, a story about a unique training institute in Tucson, Arizona and one packed full of economic development and the associated political potpourri, is now available for all who are interested. After careful consideration, I reached the conclusion that duplicating all of the content word for word at the blog when it is already posted at the Web site makes no sense and consumes unnecessary resources.

The mathematics background I have compels at least some efficiency. I chose to post just one time featuring links to all of the chapters. Real austerity would have just one link to the home page or the introduction.

The document is not fixed and will evolve.

IMPORTANT FACTS:

1. I am solely responsible for the document. No one else was involved. No one on the SAIAT board, staff, or any of SAIAT's customers or suppliers had any involvement or knowledge of this document or its publication. The buck started and stops with your humble blogger. For better or worse, I am 100 percent accountable and fully responsible for the document.

2. I have no desire to misrepresent reality. As I say in the introduction, any reader can post a comment or send me an email correcting any errors.

3. I have no desire to act unethically. If you think I have done something wrong or inappropriate, I request you have the courage to say so and support your assertion. I am serious.

Finally, consider that Something Else is not about its content. It’s about something else.

I. Introduction
1. Recipe for a Fiasco
2. Perspectives Promising Nothing Very Cheerful
3. A New Reality
4. Null to Void
5. 1993
6. A Functioning Board of Directors
7. Blindness, Vision, and Sheer Terror
8. Viability and a Future
9. 1981
10. Board Games
11. 1968
12. You're Bleeding Again
13. Dead Man Walking
14. Guardian Angel
15. Workforce Development in the 21st Century
16. Organizations
17. 1963

All feedback is welcome.

14 Comments:

Blogger Sirocco said...

Read it all, very interesting ... lots of stuff to say, but I will ponder it a bit first. Well worth waiting to read though.

I guess my first impression is it certainly moves me away from wanting to run a company (not something I've ever had much drive to do, mind you ... )

7/08/2007 8:26 AM  
Blogger Sirocco said...

Question: based on you experiences, would you advocate some form of 2-, 3- or 4- year formal vocational training programs which would replace some or all of high school? Like maybe a 2-year electronics program which would start after someone had finished two years of high school, and would effectively replace the last two years?

I guess the idea would be these were folks who didn't really intend to attend college anyway (and, as you note, HS, particularly the last two years, is really college prep), so instead they would focus on something that actually interested them for a career (other than call-center work).

If so, would you see these as being publicly funded? Or more industry funded?

7/08/2007 8:45 AM  
Blogger x4mr said...

Thanks for reading. In the last election, we passed the Joint Technical Education District proposition, which is a significant step in the right direction.

I know that Vaughn was heavily involved with it in some fashion, but don't know of that is the case.

I may write a follow up post or two. Many approaches can work. Vaughn could say better than me about the high school/vocational.

I need a little break. Feel free to post as many questions as you like, and I'll get to them.

Whew! That was more work than you know.

7/08/2007 2:59 PM  
Blogger Liza said...

A major comment is forming in my head but I have a lot more to read.
I will admit to reading the last parts first to find out who these "rats" were and what they are guilty of.

7/08/2007 6:26 PM  
Blogger x4mr said...

Oh Liza!!!

Reading Guardian before Board Games and Bleeding just violates cardinal rules. Someone should whip your naughty blogger paws with Cat 5 cable;-)

When you are ready, eager for your comments, and feel free to say as little or as much as you want. I value your thoughts.

7/08/2007 7:22 PM  
Blogger Sirocco said...

So which is which? I am guessing Galis is "FH", with FH meanng Fingerhut. Of course, his writeup also says he is on the Board of SAIAT. If he were the last to leave, that would make him DS.

7/08/2007 7:24 PM  
Blogger x4mr said...

Sirocco,

Go to TREO's Web site and examine the Council of Trustees. You will find Galis listed. He is X, the superior of the three who resigned at once in 2006 when he learned of the funding cut.

They simply have not updated their web page in the last 7 months.

Liza, Sirocco has now put real names and faces onto the screen before your naughty paws.

7/08/2007 7:35 PM  
Blogger Sirocco said...

Heh ... I don't see the associations between the real names and your abbreviations then, which is fine.

A business consulting firm that can't manage to keep its own web site up to date is rather pathetic. From the sounds of it, they are probably in the midst of some ISO 9000 process to gain the necessary sign-off to actually make the needed updates.

7/08/2007 8:32 PM  
Blogger Sirocco said...

After pondering it for some time ... I don't think TREO called for the shot, but I do think they heard about it somehow and perhaps acted in a manner to help draw you into the cross hairs.

I do think Darth and C0 were in cahoots.

I don't have anything other than impression and supposition to support those beliefs.

7/09/2007 7:48 AM  
Blogger Liza said...

I always read the ending first. Same with movies. That's why I love movies on DVD because they have a scene index.

7/09/2007 8:05 AM  
Blogger x4mr said...

Sirocco,

Not surprising, you are most perceptive. I agree, and I was in the thick of it. I understand Darth better than C0. I don't know why she chose him over me. One possibility is that she thought the massive bleeding would be blamed on her, and Darth convinced her that they could shift the cross-hairs from the controller to the executive director, a sound calculation if he knew his politics and played it just right.

He did not. Had he been a professional, he could have used my ignorance of the bleeding, and her hiding it from me, to shoot both of us and take over. To do that, he needed good relationships with the board.

Liza, you don't even have the decency to watch a film through before hacking into its scenes? That's artistic violation. It's just WRONG. Someone inflicted traumatic art experiences on you as a child.

The scene selection ability is marvelous, but only AFTER appreciating the work as designed.

Shame on you!

I still care, and want to hear what you have to say.

7/09/2007 9:28 AM  
Blogger Liza said...

I just do things backwards, x4mr. Knowing the ending relieves any anxiety I might have about the outcome, even it's a bad ending. At least I know. Then, I go back to the beginning and read the entire book or watch the entire movie. The other thing that I like about DVD's are the director's commentaries which I listen to occasionally. I am always amazed by how much I missed, so I have to conclude that I am challenged in these areas and need to have everything explained to me. I think that's at least partially true of "Something Else" as well.

7/09/2007 11:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know what to say.

I finished it last night. It's GOOD. I mean really good. I get what you mean about the rabbit hole.

Do you think you will be sued? I guess you've figured that out. If they sue you, you get publicity, and if you are telling the truth, what is their case?

The other twist is that you have offered to be corrected. How do you sue someone who is willing to correct if you point out what you object to?

Did you read every paper every day for the last 16 years?

7/09/2007 9:13 PM  
Blogger Sirocco said...

If you want to be informed, you have to read newspapers daily. x4mr is clearly informed.

One of my favorite "exhibits" ever was something the NY Times dod years ago, in the 80s. They reprinted the _entire_ transcript of a one-hour news show (one of the talk shows, round table types). It took of just about 3/4 of one page. TV can't be the main news source for information. For impact and immediacy, yes, but not information.

No matter how hard I try I can't get the wife to read newspapers. She'll read the comics, and sometimes the odd story that catches her eye, but that's about it. She gets most of her news from the radio while driving, or from TV.

7/10/2007 9:06 AM  

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