parking on the ramp?

I've noticed a few times now that someone says there is a parking "ramp"-- ie. to mean there
is a parking garage you can park in. For some reason I don't think garage or lot when I hear
"ramp"- i think like a parkway entrance/exit. Is this a regional thing?
Like I went somewhere today & I had asked where I could park & the person said such-and-such
parking "ramp"- but it was a garage. I guess you drive up a ramp/incline to get through the garage.
It's okay, now I know what they mean and what to look for but I wonder where that comes from.
Is it a Midwest thing?

cool things

at the public library, you can get free passes to local museums!

burgers

or burghers I suppose. I saw a guy in Target wearing a Pitt shirt and a Pens cap.
I do see a surprising amount of Pittsburgh-related paraphernalia here.

copper thiefin'

Sooo... in our fancy-pants "upscale" living (as the complex bills itself)... someone broke in and
stole the 4" copper pipe that was the main line for the water for the whole bldg!
Um, what? We awoke to find no water in the apartment.
Fortunately was fixed within about 5-6 hours after this incident. But wow...

mentality

yesterday I saw a bumper sticker on a car which said:

"Guns have only 2 enemies: rust and politicians"

I really ought to start a list of "clever" sayings like that. You never know when I'll be at a loss for words and can slip this gem in to fill a conversational lull.

Also, I absolutely "love" and by love I actually mean really really dislike, when people vastly oversimplify things. But I suppose that is the limitation of trying to fit ones ideology on a
bumper sticker? Maybe. I'm not sure I buy it. It's not exactly the most profound or insightful way even of showing your support for gun rights. I mean since when do guns or other inanimate objects have "enemies".

requirements for living in yuptown...

1.Hummer-- check
2. yippee dog-- check
3. cell phone-- check
4. talking on cell phone while walking yippee dog--check check

other oddities...

if you go into a liquor store with someone else and that person is purchasing liquor, they will also card you*
This is some specifically Minnesotan thing, apparently. In addition to the funky restrictions of where and when, we went in to buy a bottle of wine & were both carded? For real? Yes. I thought the guy working there was joking but nope, he was dead serious. I wonder what the rationale is.
Is this supposed to prevent someone from purchasing something for someone under-age? How?
Couldn't that person just be waiting outside? Weirdos...

*they didn't seem to care when it was beer being purchased, or maybe the guys working there were too caught up in watching baseball.

On an exciting note, only a few more days til the Minnesota State Fair...will it astound & amaze and entertain as much as the Iowa State Fair? The Iowa State Fair, to be fair, did have deep fried butter, Janet Jackson (her career post-wardrobe malfunction days), Reba Mcentire and an assortment of cranky GOP hopefuls...