Year: 2012

Exploring Pearl Harbor and Remembering the Sacrifices

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Each year tens of thousands of people visit the historic Pearl Harbor sites on Oahu, Hawaii. I expect each person takes away from the experience something different. When I visited in Pearl Harbor in 2006, I remember it being quite a different experience than it is today. The main difference is the way the monuments and information is portrayed. From what I recall, it was pretty simplified on my first visit, but today visitors to the Pearl Harbor Memorial really can spend an entire part of a day recalling in horrific detail what happened on December 7, 1941.

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Sign

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Flags

My father-in-law was in the Navy ROTC. He never talks much about his experience to me, and it was obviously well before I was even born; however, I have tremendous respect and admiration for him and all of our service people. I also felt incredibly touched that I was able to share the Pearl Harbor experience with my father-in-law, as I am sure it represents a deep connection to those that served and lost their lives on the day the United States got dragged into the war.

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Marines Monument

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Map

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Oahu 3D Map

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Anchor

The ride over to Ford Island, or rather the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial is rather somber, after just watching a short video highlighting how and why the Japanese pulled off the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Learning about the attacks was also quite staggering to realize just how effective the Japanese were at crippling our Pacific fleet.

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Nevada

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Memorial 1

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Memorial 2

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Map

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Oil Sheen

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Gun Turret No. 3

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Ariona Shrine Room

My generation of Americans can maybe less relate to older wars until we visit sites like Pearl Harbor. Memorials are a stark reminder of why the country is what it is today, shaped by our past. We are the generation of the 9/11 attacks, and visiting the New York, Pennsylvania, or Washington D.C. attack sites bring back painful memories of those dark days, while at the same time connecting all of us together, stronger.

There were some important lessons to be learned from the Pearl Harbor attacks, most notably the importance of intelligence.

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Memorial Placard

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Memorial Placard 2

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Memorial Placard 3

I am so glad I got to experience Pearl Harbor from a different viewpoint on this trip. My life has forever changed since my last visit to Pearl Harbor. This trip, I was thankful not only for those that gave their lives and serve our Country, but also for getting to share this incredible experience with my wife, boys, and in-laws.

For those planning on heading to Pearl Harbor, I have only one suggestion. Tickets are free through the National Park Service, but they charge a small fee for reserving tickets ahead. In general, we recommend ordering tickets ahead of time unless you plan on arriving to the site early. On busy days, the wait to take the ferry over to the Arizona can be hours. Ordering tickets ahead of time will help alleviate some of the wait, just make sure you pick up your tickets early as they will give them away if you do not arrive on time.

120615 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii USS Arizona Memorial Sky

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Will Discover Card’s College Football Poll Tell the Results of the 2012 Presidential Election?

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Discover Football Badge

Today is Sunday in America, which means one thing…football. Americans love their hard-hitting, emotionally charged football teams. Each week millions of fans gather in parking lots to tailgate, unfortunately find the need to get a little too inebriated, and then celebrate their team playing to a victory. Frankly, we are not that much of a sports family, but everyone has their vices.

While Sundays are typically reserved for the NFL, Saturdays are usually dedicated to college fans all across the country. This season has several key championship games that are being sponsored by my good old Discover Cards. This years sponsored matches are the 2013 Discover BCS National Championship Game and 2013 Discover Orange Bowl.

Discover Card (Facebook/Twitter) contacted us to help promote their new Discover Fan Loyalty Poll, wherein, over the course of 15 weeks they poll 800 college football fans on various topics ranging from their favorite teams to the foods they like to eat.

With the United States in prime Presidential Election season, they of course asked the question, which candidate would you like to sit next to at a Football game? Think these results will reflect the winner of the election?

Discover Fan Loyalty Infographic - Election

The results are rather interesting, and college football fans appear to favor a defined majority on this issue. Over the course of the season, we will present the various poll results that Discover finds on various topics.

Politics aside, a healthy percentage of college football fans do agree on one thing: Alabama is the best team in the country. The Crimson Tide secured the top spot for the sixth week in a row at 42 percent. But the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame have snuck into the top five in this week’s poll, knocking West Virginia down a spot. Following Alabama are:

· Alabama, 42 percent
· Oregon, 17 percent
· Florida, 5 percent
· South Carolina, 4 percent
· West Virginia, 4 percent
· Ohio State, 4 percent
· Kansas State, 2 percent
· Some other team, 10 percent
· Not sure, 8 percent

I do not quite understand how 8% of those polled can be unsure which college they attend for voting purposes, but than again we all have moments of our college lives that we may not completely recall. I guess that also gets amplified when you get together football fans and unlimited alcohol.

When asked which of the above teams’ would win the national championship game this year, Alabama came out on top at 44 percent.

So there you have it, we at InACents broke the cardinal rule of friendships; we talked about Politics AND Football in the same post with our friends. The combination of topics typically can never lead to positive results, but our readers are more civilized and open-minded to everyone’s opinion. Our family pretty much stays away from conversations on either topic in our everyday lives, but in the spirit of football, we can all celebrate together, even if that means from the comfy of our couches. Stay warm my friends.

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Discover Card does compensate our family for being an official Fan Loyalty Correspondent, but any opinions are our own.

20,000 Miles for Converting Discover Card to Discover Miles

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Update: I was also targeted for a 10,000 mile offer (after spending $1,500 by 2/28/13) for converting our Discover More to Discover Miles (despite already having a Discover Miles card). Details can be seen at discover.com/10kmiles.

For those with an existing Discover Card, now may be a time to consider switching over to the Discover Miles card. Discover is encouraging people to make the switch to Discover Miles by offering a 20,000 miles bonus after spending $2,500 on the new card by February 28, 2013.

Discover Conversion to 20,000 Miles

This 20,000 mile offer is the best offer that I am aware of for the Discover Miles and better than what I can offer through the affiliate channels. There is no telling how long this promotion will last, but one could potentially open up a new Discover More card, then convert it to the Discover Miles card once received. This could be a better play than just opening up a Discover Miles card directly.

Terms:

*After your conversion to the Miles by Discover® card is complete, you can earn 20,000 Bonus Miles after you make a total of at least $2,500 in purchases by February 28, 2013. If you fail to make $2,500 in purchases in that time period, or make a return that brings your total amount spent below $2,500, you will not qualify for this promotion and will not earn the Bonus Miles. Discover is not responsible for merchant delays in processing transactions. Please allow up to two billing periods after the end of the promotional period for the Bonus Miles to be added to your Miles account.

Is it worth converting to Discover Mile?

I think this is an excellent play to be able to take advantage of earning 20,000 miles. However, keep in mind, Discover Miles are only redeemable with Discover (i.e. they can not be converted to other airline miles or reward programs). Therefore, 20,000 miles can be used towards $200 in redemption on anything categorized under travel. So if you book a flight or hotel, you can apply the 20,000 miles towards the bill within 90 days. So it is a nice $200 rebate.

One will also earn 2,500 miles from the spend, but unfortunately, you can not redeem them for travel rebates until you reach 10,000 miles.

Where the real windfall comes from converting the Discover More card to Discover Miles is losing the ability to earn 5% cashback throughout the year in select categories. For example, from October to December, one can earn 5% cashback on all department store and online purchases, up to $1,500 in total spend with the Discover More card. This far exceeds the double miles one can sometimes receive on rotating categories with the Discover Miles card.

So would I do it? Well for starters, we already carry both the Discover More and Discover Miles cards. Howver, if I only had the Discover More card, I may consider switching it over until I meet the 20,000 bonus ($2,500 spend), then redeem my miles, and possibly switch it back to Discover More to have the 5% rotating categories at my disposal.

Ultimately, only you can decide what would work out best for your family. Some may find they like earning miles that earn towards a goal (10,000 miles) towards redemption, whereas others may like the flexibility and benefits of the cashback option.

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I do receive a commission if you are approved for the Discover More card, but not for the conversion to the Discover Miles card. If you choose to use our links, thank you!