How's Tricks?

We never said 'How's Tricks?' as kids and, as best as I can remember neither did our parents. Mom's dad, Grampy, always used to say it and the memory of him doing that, actually just the memory of him at all, just made me smile. 

In German, they say "Wie Gehts?", 'How Goes It,' since the Germans are not especially keen on tricks apparently (I may be making part of that sentence up; I'm no longer sure), but they are fastidious about punctuality and being where you're supposed to be before you're supposed to be there. 

All of this is my way of broaching the subject of how much time of our lives we spend doing a variety of tasks. And, for those who've encountered me after they've arrived late for whatever it was we said we were doing, helps explain my rage, not anger, when people waste my time.

But, speaking of time, what are people doing with theirs? 

"Across the evening sky, all the birds are leaving. But how can they know it's time for them to go?"
-bill kenny