Hi everyone - I've been searching and reading all the threads and wikis and I love Flyertalk. I wanted to ask for your help to see if what I've learned will work.

Background: I just took a new job where I'll be traveling significantly in the US. So far I have planned roughly 30k miles worth of travel in Aug/Sept alone.

Question: How do I maximize my status and membership on my airlines, car, hotel, etc.?

Airlines:
I currently fly Continental but I have no status. I've asked them to confer silver out of goodwill, but obviously that didn't work. I was thinking of trying this with United but not sure if they'll be accepting of it. Based on the wiki, it seems that the optimal thing to do is do an AA challenge to Platinum and then status match it to the airline of my choice.

Hotel:
I have a 3 month challenge with Marriott to gold.

Credit Card points:
I've added Membership Rewards Points to my corporate Amex ($75) and changed my SPG Amex to a Premier Rewards Amex so I could pool points into one rewards system

Car:
My company uses Avis and I have Avis Preferred. Nothing really to do here to get to Avis first, but I figure that'll happen quickly.

What do you guys think? It's alright for a frequent flyer newbie?