Heh. I spent nearly a year ramping up to being able to wear a beard. You really have to acclimate yourself to it, so I started by not shaving more often than once every couple of days, then once a week, then once in two weeks, etc. I've actually grown it out a bit and then shaved it off once already, dealing with the problem where it tickles me while falling asleep and keeps me awake. I've mostly gotten over that for its current length, so I guess we'll see how it goes. I'd like to have it hanging down to my nipples, that would really rock.
Luckily, I've had nothing but positive responses, except from you and Fonkay.
I think that in general I look friendlier, which is good since my face is sort of stuck in a permanent scowl. Now, this particular picture was posed, I wasn't trying to look nice in it...
Edit: In other news, my unibrow seems to be disappearing. I suspect foul play, my wife and I have gone back and forth over whether or not a unibrow is cool....