Well, my takeaway from all of this is that I made a good decision signing up for the Zync as soon as I was eligible.  Now, with a locked-in Membership Date, no matter what happens I will have a nicely backdated Amex card.  

  11-27-2012: FICO EXP: 731 - EQU: 723 - TRAN: 731 - AVG: 728 - +178 points from JUN 2008 - MY CREDIT JOURNAL