At last count as I am writing this blog entry, I must say I am somewhat surprised to see the majority of you are planning on buying a car in the next year. For our economy’s sake, I hope so, too.

And if you are interested in our most recent polls, check these out:

• What’s your source for Do-It-Yourself home remodeling? Some were not surprised to see Lowe’s won, but wow, by such a wide margin!
• New benefits that you want to see in the Veterans Advantage program: We always take our feedback in this area and try to find the best of the best for you.

Going forward, you should visit our “Resources” section regularly for more updates.

Here’s a couple of tips I think will help you get started:

If you are exploring our program for the first time: Click any of the blue links across the top for background on our program. We’ve worked to enhance this area to underscore the importance of our mission — ranging from unique money-saving benefits across a range of key everyday categories with your Veterans Advantage Card, to the latest news and resources to keep you informed about your ongoing benefits from the government and the private sector. And finally, through our charitable activities, we want you to know that you are truly part of something special.

If you are not a member yet, I encourage you to sign up today and get started.

If you are already a member: Click on “Members Only” in the upper right hand corner of each page to access your benefits to enter with your Veterans Advantage Member ID and password. You’ll find direct benefit access just one or two clicks away from anywhere on our Web site.

Our valuable member services support continues to be online: visit the personalized “Your Account” area and “Contact Us” for online support or see our Help section. And finally, your Veterans Advantage Membership qualifies you for our free weekly member e-newsletter that updates you on the latest inclusions in your benefits package and is posted on our new site under “Resources.”

All of us here at Veterans Advantage hope you like this upgrade to our Web site. Tell us what you think!

Enjoy VeteransAdvantage.com today.

Lin and I had the opportunity to meet with the Honorable General Erick K. Shinseki, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs and former U.S. Army Chief of Staff, who represented the United States, together with former Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole. Secretary Shinseki and Senator Bob Dole were awarded the Legion of Honor in a previous ceremony.

Senator Bob Dole, a disabled US WWII Veteran decorated three times for heroism, had been invited by President Obama to travel with him to France for the 65th anniversary of D-Day to represent the American World War II generation, clearly a great choice given his outstanding WWII service, his long and distinguished career in public service, and his continued commitment to veterans. He told us he’s made countless trips to Normandy!

Senator Dole is also very proud to have served as chairman of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, which raised $175 million in private funds for its construction. He told us that he is active in the “Honor Flight” network, which flies World War II veterans from across the U.S. without charge to view the memorial and loves to personally greet the flights bringing them to Washington.

We were so proud to be able to attend such an significant event and for the opportunity to bear witness to those 32 amazing American WWII vets who received such an important honor.

More about Veterans Advantage.

Veterans Advantage Co-Founders Scott Higgins (r) and Lin Higgins (l) with US Secretary of Veterans Affairs Shinseki

Veterans Advantage founders, with their daughter, Drew, and with former US Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole

Yankee bats joined in the honors as well. The Yankees defeated their crosstown rival New York Mets 15-0. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Richard A. Guzman)

Dunwoody’s First Pitch

But the kicker was watching Odierno shave Colbert’s head, on orders from President Obama.

Both the character and the real Colbert are ardent supporters of the troops. He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Yellow Ribbon Fund, which helps injured service members and their families, and is a board member of DonorsChoose.org, which is raising money for the education of children of military parents.

Shifting to the upcoming Super Bowl, it seems that every major sports event has some element of service tied to it. At last year’s Super Bowl, for instance, the two teams were pitting stars from a military lineage: Patriots Coach Bill Bellichick and Giants star lineman Michael Strahan. This year, it’s the St. Louis Cardinals, and their resurgent quarterback Kurt Warner, whose wife served as a U.S. Marine. The Warners represent a fascinating and inspiring story of overcoming adversity time and time again.

And for saving money, a family for four can enjoy a trip to Tampa to see Kurt Warner play in his third Super Bowl and save $76.60 with our Continental 5% off for VA members. And if you don’t have tickets, save $379 on a new 52-inch HDTV from our target.com online store where you get 10% off everyday and watch the game in the comfort of your home. Or save $51 on XM Satellite Radio to listen to the big game –broadcast to listeners in 10 languages!

Our first visit included the New York City Commissioner of Veterans’ Affairs, Roger Newman (USAF), and his special deputy Clarice Joynes (USMC). We stopped by to drop off our “TopVet” award to Clarice for her tireless efforts to bring much-needed support and benefits to the city’s estimated 250,000 Veterans.

After lunch, we visited the offices of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and its Founder and Executive Director Paul Rieckoff. We honored Paul with our “HeroVet” award for his efforts with the historic passage of the new GI Bill benefits during the summer.

We appreciate the service of both organizations to our nation’s Veterans.

More than 300 people from all ranks, services and many states’ National Guards then watched Gates swear in McKinley as the first four-star general to lead the National Guard in its 372-year history.

“The promotion of Gen. Craig McKinley to this rank, to serve in this post, is in recognition of his outstanding leadership abilities and shows the confidence the president and I have in him to be the nation’s senior Guard officer at such a critical time,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said. Gates said McKinley successfully led the Air Guard during a time of severe manpower reductions and major challenges posed by the global war on terrorism, base realignment and closure implementation, budget changes and the transformation of the National Guard from a strategic reserve to an operational force.

McKinley succeeds Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, who served in the post for more than five years and in January will become deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command, the first Guard officer to hold that position.

In other news on the four-star front, we profiled the first female four-star general of the Army, Ann. E. Dunwoody, who also represents three generations serving our armed forces with honor.

We wanted to highlight Continental Airlines this week as well. As many of you know the Houston area – Continental’s main hub – was hit hard by Hurricane Ike. Thankfully, Continental reports that it’s making great progress in returning to full service in Houston, which is good news for those flying to/from/through this very busy airport…and with your regular 5% Veterans Advantage discount. More updates here.

And be sure to root for one very special Veteran, Duke Men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski who is leading America’s best professional basketball stars for its own gold medal run.

We’ve launched new benefits this week, too, for those of you who have furry friends in your household – save 10 – 15% on your pet accessories, foods and medicine, thanks to Target.com and 1800petmeds.com. More on the wealth of stuff you can get are available here.