Weyerhaeuser announced today that it has completed the sale and transfer of its Canadian building materials distribution assets to Platinum Equity of Los Angeles, Calif. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The sale includes all of the company’s distribution centers in Canada: Brampton, Ontario; Calgary, Alberta; Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Edmonton, Alberta; Kelowna, British Columbia; Montreal, Quebec; Ottawa, Ontario; Quebec City, Quebec; Regina, Saskatchewan; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Sudbury, Ontario; Timmins, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; St. John’s, Newfoundland; Sussex, New Brunswick; Langley, British Columbia.

Weyerhaeuser said it will maintain a significant presence in Canada following the sale. The company will continue to employ about 3,500 Canadian employees — producing and distributing softwood and hardwood lumber, engineered wood, oriented strand board, plywood, and pulp-across the country.

Weyerhaeuser is still in preliminary negotiations for ten U.S. building materials distribution sites in Louisville, Ky.; Memphis, Tenn.; Nashville, Tenn.; Green Bay, Wis.; Kansas City, Kan.; Oklahoma City; Omaha, Neb.; Newton, Kan.; Boston, Mass.; and Buffalo, N.Y.

Washington gas prices continued to fall today, nearly a dime since they hit a Washington high two weeks ago.

AAA Washington reports the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas in Washington today was $3.348 a gallon. That's down from $3.445, the all-time state record average on May 21.

Washington still lags behind the national average, which was $3.158 today, according the AAA. Spokane continues to post the lowest average metro gas prices in the state with an average of $3.268 a gallon.

Tacoma gas prices averaged $3.321 a gallon for unleaded regular, down more than five cents a gallon a month ago. Bellingham continues to post the highest metro prices, $3.481 a gallon.

Illinois still has the highest gas prices in the country with a gallon of regular selling for $3.459 on average.

Three states, New Jersey ($2.952), South Carolina ($2.939) and Tennessee ($2.995) sell have averages below $3 a gallon.

I've seen even lower myself in the last few days.

Check out this station in St. Bernard Parish, La.

This station is one of a few open in the still-heavily hurricane-damaged area adjacent to New Orleans. It sits within sight of a huge, flame-belching refinery.

It's a lesson in Economics 101. Ready supply plus slack demand = low prices. Still not enough incentive to move back to the neighborhood where 50 percent of the homes are still trashed and most retail activity has disappeared.

Caffeine junkies who go to Starbucks for their daily fix will get a nonstop dose of Paul McCartney’s “Memory Almost Full” on Tuesday as the coffee company’s new record label releases its first CD.

Starbucks Corp. estimates that some 6 million people will be among the first to hear the new album as they line up for their lattes in more than 10,000 stores in 29 countries, where it will be playing on continuous loop throughout the day, The Associated Press reported.

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A 60-seat dinner-style theater will be part of a new bar and restaurant being constructed in the shell of a downtown Tacoma building that once housed a notorious downtown Tacoma adult theater.

Ron Gintz, chief operating officer of the Gintz Group, the new owner of the 1908-vintage Bonnell Building at 755 Broadway said the featured movies will change under the new ownership, but the theater, updated and reconfigured, will remain.

The Gintz Group bought the building from the wife of legendary Tacoma adult entertainment mogul Jerry Holt last summer. The building had housed a adult theather and bookstore since the '70s.

The theater-style seats will be removed and replaced by tables, chairs and booths. The theater will show second-run films and will be available for live shows and corporate meetings, he said.

The theater will be part of a new "Broadway Speakeasy" that will include a bar and an informal restaurant. The remainder of the building will be divided into residential comdominium units and two Commerce Street retail spaces.

This week marks the second annual Business Etiquette Week as proclaimed and celebrated by the Protocol School of Washington (D.C.). And in our own way, we'd like to celebrate by offering a week's worth of basic business etiquette advice.

Today: The handshake

To begin, make and maintain eye contact. Smile. Keep your hand straight out, with fingers extended, not bent. Meet the other person’s hand web-to-web.
A good handshake should be firm and dry, not limp - and not so strong that the other person's hand would feel clamped.

“A handshake is your five-fingered resume,” says Tacoma etiquette
consultant Judie Guthrie.

Maintain eye contact and do not look around the room for someone more important than the person you are greeting.

Except for close friends or in special circumstances, a hug is inappropriate.

Tacoma’s best business handshake: Columbia Bank President and CEO Melanie Dressel.

Tomorrow: Business Cards

Multicare Health System is hosting a grand opening Sunday for its new outpatient facility in Gig Harbor.

The facility merges "the latest in medical technology with healthy lifestyle services," according to a news release from the hospital.

In addition to music, face painting and what have you, the event also includes exercise mini-classes put on by the Gig Harbor YMCA staff.

The opening runs from noon through 4 p.m. at 4545 Point Fosdick Drive.