My name is Purple Loving Barney. Am I a meme? (Uh, what exactly is a meme?)
25So, I must admit that I have not been following the forum talk, during the past few months, as closely as I once did. My mom's declining health, her breaking her hip, followed by her stroke, and my own doctors and their obsession with trying to figure out what makes me tick (or not tick), has caused me to neglect my purple loving duties at times.
Anyway, today I was watching the LabStream Finale (yes, I know I am partly responsible for the decline and fall of LabStream. Sorry.) and @dashcloud asked them about memes. My name was mentioned.
Give it to me straight, I can accept the truth. Am I a meme?
- 19 comments, 51 replies
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Not since you started saying more than "I like purple". Now you're a real person.
@sammydog01 But I've always been a real person...
@Barney There was a long time where we weren't sure if you were a bot, though.
Barney we email other and you know I care, but when you mention meme I have no choice. :)~
@mfladd Noooo! I'd never wear that kind of boots.
@Barney I don't think you're the one wearing boots.
A portion of what you do here is a meme. Like a great snapshot of the awesome person that is @Barney.
@Thumperchick Aww, that means a lot, coming from you. Thank you.
"I love purple" is definitely a meme
@Lotsofgoats Okay, but they also talked about @marklog and "fingering his dog". This, too, is a meme?
@Barney also yes, in which case I think your legacy is preferable
@Lotsofgoats Yes, I agree. Poor @marklog.
@Barney poor @marklog's dog.
Good morning, Purple Loving Barney - I think @Starblind defined memes best.
@KDemo Good morning to you! So, I must now dip my biscuits in my tea?
@Barney
@KDemo I love purple.
@KDemo I don't know much about purple, but that ice is nice. 'Been living out of a counter-high + a cube fridge. We miss our seemingly endless thru the door supply of ICE!
We've been battling GE for over a week about a 6 year old GE Profile fridge that "gave up the goat" after 5 service visits spread over its too-short lifetime.
@RedOak- We depend on our refrigerators so much. I got mine free from Puget Sound Energy because my last one had the old kind of freon system. No ice dispenser, though. Good luck getting yours replaced.
@RedOak I've learned long ago about GE appliance reliability (and lack thereof). My current fridge is an Ikea one (manufactured by Whirlpool); came with a 5-year warranty (which has passed already) and was assembled in the USA.
@narfcake (@barney apologies for the hijack - ice is nice tho)
And we learned the painful way that Whirlpool sucks both in reliability and customer support (that comes painfully since they're HQ'd in our state). Every single one of our appliances was KitchenAid. And every single one had premature failures except the simpleton dryer. Nursing only one at this point.
We tried GE hoping for a different experience. We too had a 5-year extended plan. Their customer service is far from perfect but it is better.
Our conclusion after talking to several service techs and doing the research?Everything sucks. All the latest stuff is so cheap you can't expect much more than 5 years from it.
And while the Korean fridges appear to be better designed, they break as well. And parts and service are tougher.
We now go best in class - we don't worry about matching brand - if it comes at a rational premium. (Doesn't help with fridges since even Sub Zero isn't that reliable). For us that means so far: LG washer/dryer and Bosch dishwasher.
@KDemo yah, we take them for granted until they let us down!
We got a pretty good rebate from our electric utility on our 2009 GE. But it was far from "free"! ;-)
@RedOak my fridges ice macho door got stuck open and melted ice everywhere while we were at the store. It is now ductaped shut forever :(
@RedOak They finally figured out if they sell everybody appliances that last for 30 years, eventually they reach a lull where basically no one needs new appliances. The mattress people came to the same conclusion; that's why most now have a single side.
@jqubed Back in 1998, we bought a 5-year old basic Whirlpool washer from the Salvation Army. 13 years later, still working fine but not so water efficient, we donated it back to the same store, jokingly saying that all they had to do was update the numbers on the back -- which they did. And sold it within a week. It's probably still working fine to this day.
In the past, appliances were sold by how big their motors were -- and those suckers never broke a sweat. These days, they're sold by how few watts it takes -- with small motors are running full out all the time. Longevity? That's not the main priority anymore.
@jqubed @narfcake if only they charged prices corresponding to a 5-6 life rather than double/triple the 20 year version price! ;-)
Having seen the guts of these newer appliances, they could also design them for easier maintenance/repair without increasing cost. They are either too lazy or intentionally make them repair-proof.
I've often observed they should make their design engineers (and the Financial Controllers managing their budgets) live with and repair their own designs.
@RedOak Or take away their corporate discount so they have to feel our pain.
@barney When you started here, you were a meme- but now you're much more than that, and you're a person who started a fabulous forum meme "I love purple".
I'd point you to the definitions of meme, but they all suck.
It's really easier to define by example than by a definition.
From here, "baby arm" and "pagination" would be examples of memes.
Many of the gifs posted are memes.
Thanks for sticking around, and being awesome!
Hope your mom's health starts improving soon, and that you're still okay.
@dashcloud So basically, a meme is something that just happens to "catch on" with other people? I only went with "I love purple" because people were often making fun of the purple items being sold and I thought that I would get their attention by saying that I love purple, which I really do.
As for me being awesome, you make me blush.
It's not looking too good for my mom. She will be going into long term care in a few days.
@Barney Sorry to hear that, @Barney. Hang in there.
@Barney I'm so sorry to hear about your mom's lack of progress. Sending you light, wishes for good health, and all things purple.
@Barney Sending love and peaceful thoughts to you and your mom.
@Barney I'm so sorry she isn't recovering as you had hoped. Purple hearts and thoughts for you both.
@Barney So sorry. I'll be thinking of you and your mom.
@Barney Purple thoughts to you and your mom, @Barney.
@Barney As far as I can tell, a meme is a shared experience among people that grows into something bigger than itself, for any number of reasons, and then spreads.
@Barney I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I know we were all hoping for a full recovery. It's hard. I will continue to send her healing thoughts and wishes. I'm sad to hear you need some too, but I am more than happy to send some your way . : )
As for the meme thing. It's kinda like how Pinocchio was first a puppet and then * Magic * and he became a real boy. : )
To note: Skip the nose growing thing in the comparison. But the turning into a donkey part , well you were goat.
@Barney while I was posting @dashcloud wrote "< meme > is a shared experience among people that grows into something bigger than itself...." That's perfect.
Thank you for sharing yourself and therefore providing some great purple construction material to help our meh forum grow. : )
@barney I like the way @dashcloud summed it up.
Sorry things aren't going well for your mom. I think of it multiple times every day but haven't had a real opportunity to email again. You both continue to be in my thoughts. You'll be the first to know when things finally calm down enough for me to sit down and write.
@christinewas I hope everything is okay with you. If not, you know how to reach me if you need someone to talk to.
We love you @Barney!
I think you are a trendsetter. Purple is so "in" now.
@Teripie But was purple ever out?
@narfcake Purple didn't always get the respect it deserves.
Meme, not a meme, to me you are just @Barney and I'm ridiculously happy for your presence. I'm truly heavy in the heart to hear about your mom. I hope that she gets the best of care, wherever she is, and that it allows you some time and energy to care for yourself.
I don't care if all I see is, "I love purple" or if it's something more, I'm a bit happier for it.
Sorry to hear aboot your mum. Best wishes to both of you. And - I, too, love purple!
I checked http://knowyourmeme.com/ and while I did see Barney from how I met your mother, and I saw Barney from the childrens' brain warping show... I didn't see you, so you are not a meme (yet).
@thismyusername I wonder if they take submissions...
I think your purple love is a mehmeme.
@Barney loves purple.
And we love @Barney.
Perhaps it's both meme and not-meme.
So, wait, does this mean your last name is Barney, with your first name as Purple, and Loving is your middle name?
@jqubed If you ever get an email from me, you will find that I am Barney Purple. Loving is my middle name.
Sending my best wishes to you and your mom, @Barney.
When I, @Barney, first arrived at this forum, my original plan was to say, "I love purple" and only those words. I thought I might drive more than a few people crazy with my purple obsession. Then I decided to add a word here and there. Eventually, I became a normal(?) speaking person on this forum.
Why did I change my mind? Because I wanted to be part of this wonderful community. It's so rare to find such caring (and did I say fun?) people on the internet. Thank you so much for your thoughts and wishes for my mom and me. And thank you for your love and friendship.
@Barney Thank you for being real, and know that we're here listening. And enjoying all things purple.
@Barney Curious as to how found meh. You've been here from the start or close to it. Were you on mediocre first ? ( I can't remember any more who was and wasn't ) Did you come from woot ? If yes, you weren't barney there.
No matter how, glad you did !
@ceagee It's kind of complicated and very boring. Tell you what, if you will email me at my favorite color barney001 (all one word) at the gmail, I'll tell you my story, IF you will tell me what happened to you on that fateful Fuku night. Deal?
@Barney but... I wanna know...
@Thumperchick How about making a new thread and ask how people how they found their way to Meh and the forum.
@Barney Okay, I will! Well, I did.
@Thumperchick @Barney Great idea ! Will you post there ?
@Barney You have not posted there. I will email.
@Barney tomorrow. my internet got shut off for a bit and I am done for day/night. : )
@ceagee I'm in the process of fighting with the rehab people (I'm losing the battle). They want to move my mom to long term care. I kinda feel like they are giving up on her and I don't want this to happen. Anyway, I'm in and out here, so just send me an email and I'll get back to you. Thanks!
@Barney Good luck!
@Barney Stand your ground. Can you go to a PT or OT session w/ her ? Find a sympathetic therapist or social worker to be your ally.
I hate that advocacy is so hard and so needed these days. She is lucky to have you looking out for her.
@ceagee Of course I have to vote for this!