I'm also curious about whether the Z-pak helped you. The flu is a virus which is not affected by antibiotics. When I had the flu a month ago I was prescribed Tamiflu. It was pricey but worked great. Walgreens is experiencing growth partly because they understand the concept of "local" and customer service. In the Chicago area we're talking great distances and horrendous traffic so it's wonderful to have a freestanding place in the neighborhood. They also carry so many other items that around here it's becoming the 21st century corner store. Our Walgreens has instituted a great service. Directly across from the pharmacy counter they've created a space for a mini-urgent care practice. There's a small reception area and two small examining rooms that are home to nurse-practioners. You can stop in with minor health problems - colds, flu and such. The nurses can prescribe medications or suggest over the counter products. They seem to be doing a brisk business treating kids with the sniffles and things like that. I woke up the day before our cruise feeling like my sinuses were on fire. I had stopped at Walgreens to pick up some of our regular meds and saw the mini-urgent care and signed up. The nurse suggested an over the counter med and also gave me a script for a nasal spray. All in all I was very pleased with the convenience and speed. Otherwise I would have needed to drive all the way to the other side of town and sat in the waiting room at urgent care for way over an hour.

I'm afraid I have to agree with most of the negatives. Watch them like hawks every inch of the way. When they pack, when they load, when they unload, and if you have them unpack (which I would never do.) We have moved (corporate and individually) long distance eight times since 1980, the last was three years ago California to Texas. As trailrunner said, each time was a new invention of us being wronged or cheated. I think sometimes it is just plain ignorance or not caring, but mostly cheating. Last move they were not careful packers at all and some beautiful leather books were just put in any which way so they got damaged, other things broken. I thought I had found such a good mover because he advertised himself as a "Christian" moving company, but Christian is as Christian does and he wasn't. Another company took all my obsessively-organized garage bins and mini-drawers full of everything from various sized nails, to all sorts of garage things, and to save space dumped them all into one big box, then stacked the boxes etc. on top of them. It took me a full time week to put them back in order. Be aware that you must insure for 100% replacement value or you will get very little for anything they break or lose. Be aware also that the loading end will likely be much different than the destination end. We have had a few moves where I loved the crew that packed and loaded. However, if it is more than a few hours away, they are going to hire a crew locally at the destination. That can be a disaster, as with our last move. I cannot even begin to tell you. They must have picked them up off the street, they were so inept, and frankly I began to be concerned that they were going to sue us because they started complaining about how heavy things were. I have also had individual members of the crew on both ends be rude and disrespectful and downright threatening to me (who am usually handling them alone while DH is at work). I think the best you can do is interview a lot of people and really grill them. Pick the one you feel the most comfortable with (and get reviews from other customers), then grill them again about WHO will be on the other end? Then call the other end and see if you feel comfortable with them. I'm convinced that a quick call to the company on the Texas end of our most recent move would have told me to stay away from the company I was about to use. Having said all that, we've survived all the bad experiences with ourselves intact, and the bad taste fades -- until someone asks your opinion about moving companies, LOL! :-)

Stax, I guess so (my current posting date says "last month")! However, I'm now adding a new thread asking for help/advice on my current move. As I said in my earlier post (5 posts up), my earlier move was done by myself using a rental truck. For my current move, in progress, I couldn't find a rental truck from any local rental companies (U-Haul, Penske, etc. My last one was Ryder, which no longer rents to individuals). So I decided to use a local moving company which advertises local and long distance moves. First mistake - I didn't read any reviews then and when I did yesterday, they were horrible! Anyway, like Dianne47, my move is fairly complex, from a house on Long Island to a new house in the wilderness of Northern NY. I wanted to avoid the movers reloading my stuff between trucks, so I specified a one-truck move, which they agreed to. I also have a piano which I am concerned about. They were very good on meeting their pickup time, but I was appalled that they came in a 24 foot Penske rental truck. There were three men, the driver (Ron) and two helpers. We had boxed most stuff into 24 boxes, mostly paintings (my wife is an artist). The first thing they loaded was the piano and, as they lifted it up, one leg fell off (not their fault). So they put the piano in the front of the truck, along with the leg. They carefully wrapped all the furniture and skillfully placed the pieces, along with the boxes in the truck and stabilized them with straps. The truck was 3/4 full. They said that they would deliver the next day. I agreed to pay them 1/2 then and the other 1/2 upon delivery. We drove up to our new house (a 6-hour drive), somewhat concerned that they would get there before we did, but that didn't happen. We waited the rest of the day and, so far, no show (yet - I am writing this the morning of the third day). When I called that afternoon, the company manager said they were in a meeting and would call me back. Several complications: 1. Google has my address mis-located, so I explained to the driver exactly where we lived and he said he understood. 2. For the final 30 miles of the trip, there is no cell service, except for in my town, where there is only Verizon, so I confirmed with the driver that he had Verizon, which he did. 3. They only accept payment via cash, certified check, or one of two phone payment apps which I don't use. So I paid the first half in cash and have enough for the final payment. 4. I have two entrances to my house, the piano and several other pieces of heavy furniture go into my basement - fortunately I have a walk-out basement with two rather large doors, reachable by a dirt driveway. The rest go on the main floor, which has a porch which can be driven up to via a different driveway. The paintings all go up to a loft, reachable by a ladder from the main floor. All of this was explained to the driver who said that it would be no problem. THIS IS WHY I WANTED TO MAKE SURE THE SAME DRIVER (AND TRUCK) MADE IT ALL THE WAY! Since the piano was the first in, it would be the last out, so the first unloading should be to the main floor and loft and the second around the back of the house to the basement entrance. So, I am sitting here waiting....

We haven't spent enough time in Arizona to make a comparison. The house we bought is rented out to college students. So far we haven't had a problem. Our house is just a couple of blocks from the U of A. We like to be near the kind of amenities that universities offer. Of course that also means we are near a frat house and all the noise that is likely to entail. I have lived in Kirkland and loved it. The waterfront is delightful. Unfortunately, we sold to move to Olympia and couldn't afford Kirkland when it was time to move back. The house we bought for $57k is now more than a million. My daughter lives in Bellevue in a close-in location with a view of Lake Washington and the Seattle skyline. It's great, but it too would cost well over a million today. Bellevue traffic can be really horrid and it can be tough to get around - same with Kirkland. Think about Woodinville or Bothell. They are bargains by comparison. Downtown Bothell is a bus hub that will take you in any direction. If you decide you want to be further out, then I would consider the Sammamish plateau. There are lovely planned communities up there. It is no good for finding work though and the infrastructure to move a lot of traffic just isn't there yet. I have a brother in Sun City Grand. He has a lovely home, but it is all a bit too quiet and conservative for our taste. We have friends living on Dove Mountain in a retirement community and that seems a bit too quiet for our taste as well. I like that it is gated though because I just don't see how we are going to walk away from a house in the U District for the summer. We have 5 years yet before we retire, so who knows what we will be up for then. We bought the house in 2004 at the height of the buying frenzy, so we were just trying to preserve our ability to have a house in AZ.