Rob Carson sent in this chat this afternoon:

Today: ChildTrek
Address: 430 East 25th St., #3 (in Freighthouse Square)
On the phone: Owner Miebeth Bustillo-Booth

Please give me a quick description of what you sell.
We sell natural, green toys made with sustainable materials.

When did your holiday season start?
We have an online store, too, www.childtrek.com and there, the season started in late October. Here at the Freighthouse Square store, it started in early November.

How are sales so far?
Things are going fantastically well. With our online store and this one, we are in the black. We believe there is a shift that is happening. People are shifting away from plastic toys and toward toys that are safe and wholesome.

What are you hearing from your shoppers about their budgets?
They’re being more selective. They want more for their money. They want good solid toys that will last, and I think that’s really working in our favor.

Are you having any sales?
Yes, as a matter of fact, tomorrow, (Saturday), we’re having ‘Green Play: A Toy Safety Fair.’ There’s going to be free toy testing, for harmful chemicals, and tests for lead levels in your body for women who are breast feeding or pregnant. We’ll have sales associated with that.

What are your most popular sellers so far this season?
Oh, let’s see: At the store, that would probably be wooden blocks of all sorts, especially the Automoblox. Others would be the HABA Little Leaf House Fabric Book and the Plan Toys Melody Xylophone.

Are there any particularly notable items you’ll be selling this season?
They’re all notable.

Though trade is often a one-way street these days, the Port of Tacoma recently reversed the usual inflow of autos to export cars from its piers.

Two hundred forty-one Mitsubishi Eclipse autos were loaded Nov. 21 onboard the Manon, an auto carrier that had brought heavy machinery to the port from abroad for ports in China, Japan and South Korea, the port reports.

Misubishi Eclipse

The Eclipse is only made in a plant in Normal, Ill., so Asian buyers who want an Eclipse must import the U.S.-made car.

The outbound cars arrived by rail in Tacoma and were processed for export by Auto Warehousing Inc.

The number of Eclipse vehicles exported through the port is expected to increase in 2009, according to port officials.

Aviation industry analysts expect the Boeing Co. to announce a new round of delivery delays for its troubled 787 Dreamliner later this month.

The new delays, at least six more months by some predictions, would stretch out the first delivery into 2010, nearly two years after its first delivery was scheduled.

The new delays are driven by the 58-day Machinists Union strike which shut down aircraft production at Boeing this fall and by continuing problems with software and fasteners on the revolution plane.

The new delay, which pundits expect Boeing to announce before Christmas, will be the fourth official delay announced by the company.

The new announcement comes as Boeing is encountering problems across its new product lines caused by parts shortages, improperly installed fasteners and improperly made parts.

The company delivered only four planes in November, it announced this week. Those planes were nearly complete when machinists went on strike in September.

The deliveries in November were two Boeing BBJ business jets, one 777 and one 767.

Newly expanded Mokulele Airlines, headed by former Alaska Airlines baggage handler Bill Boyer, has formed an alliance with its CEO's former employer.

Under the new partnership, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members will earn 500 miles of frequent flier credit when they take a Mokulele flight beginning next year.

Mokulele is expanding its inter-Hawaiian fleet next year with Embraer 170 twin-jets operated by Republic Airways.

Alaska itself in the last year has begun serving four Hawaiian destinations from Seattle and Anchorage.

Mokulele until recently was a small airline serving less traveled islands with a fleet of smaller turboprop aircraft.

After the demise of inter-island carrier Aloha Airlines, Mokulele announced its expansion into the larger Embraer jets and new service to other islands.

Boyer, who once owned a Lakewood coffee shop in addition to holding down his baggage handling job at Sea-Tac Airport, invented a portable digital entertainment player he called the DigEPlayer. Alaska was one of the first customers for the player which it rents to customers on longer flights.

Boyer sold DigEPlayer to a Utah company and bought Mokulele Airlines.