Hello Flyertalk! (First post)

My company just recently moved me into national sales in the US which will require plenty of travel.

I am reading up on how to maximize this opportunity with airline, hotel, and car rewards programs along with credit cards so that I can leverage the biz travel into some family time. It has been very confusing and overwhelming! I am looking for some advice from the pros to get me started.

I fly out of Tucson, which favors AA.
I generally target midrange hotel lines.
I travel domestically twice a month.

A general overview of how to approach perks would be appreciated.

Some specific questions I have are:
How do miles convert to actual flights?
Are credit card miles and airline miles equivalent and able to be merged?
What are the best current programs to take advantage of?

All I have so far is 4k miles on AA.

Thanks in advance!