What I learned

1. You don't know how well the packers and loaders did until you UNPACK! (there were some boo-boos, but for the most part I was very fortunate)
   
2. Always have bottles of water on hand for the contractors -- every single one of them asked for this and I never had any on hand.
3. If providing lunch, ask for any food preferences ahead of time. I ordered pizza on the spur of the moment and later found one of the movers had tossed the bulk of his serving in the trash.
4. Protect everything against WATER. I had slight water damage and could have had a lot more. The van roof is a thin, transparent layer of fiberglass -- probably for light and weight. It's not water-tight. The van spent a few days in the depot in Portland and we had night-time rain.
5. About those boxes -- I bought too many -- especially the "large" size. I bought 30 small -- I'd recommend 40-50. That's enough to get you started. Most movers have their own boxes and not necessarily expensive either.
   
6. Styrofoam "peanuts" -- movers don't use them!!!! They use newsprint.
   
7. No matter what the size or weight -- pack all communications electronics together and label them well. This includes:

• all connecting cables and power cords for computer and peripherals
• routers, printers, surge protectors, speakers
• all connecting cables and power cords for TV, cable, Tivo, etc.

*** Remember, with electronics it doesn't matter if you recover 99 pieces out of 100. A single lost component can make all the rest of them inoperable.