Cell PHones for Inmates, Airline Policieis, BP, Guys With Fat Chicks for Wives

I'm a well-educated individual, watch the news and read the papers, keep up with the national and international topics and, in general, notice the world around me.

Still, I get baffled. I hardly pretend to know – or certainly understand – everything I see or observe.

Yes, there are Things I Don't Understand. And here they are:

I live in California and a candidate running for Attorney General ran ads touting how touch he would be on crime. Among his "get tough" measures was blocking cell phone access for people in prisons. This is something I don't understand. You're telling me people in prisons have cell phones!? How is this possible? Why do prisoners have cell phones? Why are there cell phone towers near prisons? I have trouble getting cell phone service by the Manhattan Beach Pier and you're telling me convicted criminals behind bar have full access?

This is one of the Things I Don't Understand.

Airlines continue to baffle me. They started charging for checked bags when the price of gas went up to $4 a gallon. But when it went down below $2.50 they continued to charge for checked bags. Now here's a new beauty. A friend arrived at American Airlines for a flight L.A. He was checking a water ski. American said he was too late to check the ski – they required an absurd 45 minutes before the flight – and would not let him on the plane because it was, according to American, too late for the checked ski. "Passengers must fly with checked bags," he was told. They were willing to put the ski on the next flight but it was overbooked so he was not likely to make that flight. But what happened to the passenger having to fly with his/her checked bag? His reasonable solutions were rejected and he had to fly out the next day.

Airlines and their bizarre policies are among the Things I Don't Understand.

BP and the Gulf Oil Spill. Not having enough help at the shores. Acting like the Keystone Cops to cap the spill; I'm calling them the Capping Cops. Waiting until the media uproar pretty much forces them to employ local fisherman to try and clean up the mess. Being behind the story instead of ahead of it (I do public relations and could write a book on BP's mistakes).

This entire situation and BP's response – or lack thereof – is one of the Things I Don't Understand.

I am a problem solver. Politicians are not. This, too, could be a book but here's just one example. Los Angeles wants to build a much-needed rail line from downtown to Santa Monica. Now let me state that public transportation in LA is as foreign as the Euro. This is a good idea and the funding is being provided by the Federal Stimulus Package. It is being held up by one small intersection that runs by a school. Rightfully so, the parents don't want their kids in the path of cars and trains. So the elected officials have some complicated, cost-heavy plan that makes nobody happy. Why not just build a bridge over the intersection!?

This is definitely one of the Things I Don's Understand.

There is a Volkswagon commercial has people hitting each other when they see a car. This is VIOLENCE, promoted on TV! How did this happen, get through all the corporate checkpoints and passed by the FCC?

This is certainly one of the Things I Don't Understand.

I"m single. Mistakes, I've made a few. Regrets, yes, but too few to mention. I'm also admittedly a bit picky when it comes to companions. Which is why I find it amazing – no, baffling – when I see what some guys have chosen as their wives. I was watching the exterminator TV show and one of his clients was a decent-looking guy who had some type of insect problem. The guy, who seemed fairy young and fit, had a couple of kids. Soon, they showed his wife. She was twice his size and not the least bit attractive. For the life of me, I could not understand the attraction. How did he wind up with her in first place, let alone get married and had children with her. I see this on too frequent occasions and when I do, I'm half tempted to grab the guy by the collar, shake him and ask "What were you THINKING!?" But then I simply shrug the shoulders and say, "better them than me!"

This is one of the Things I Don't Understand.

Come back again for More Things I Don't Understand.