Can't edit object

When I add a cylinder, bevel, inset face, and had to stop for a moment. When I came back and switched back to edit mode, I couldn't do anything to my cylinder. There was no scale to apply, so that isn't messing me up. All I can do is select the cylinder in the outliner and I always wind up with the orange outline. I can't seem to make it the active object. I have a plane I made into a box and I can tab between edit mode and object mode and edit it all I want. The cylinder just won't edit anymore.