To be(ard) or not to be(ard)?

So, as many of you noticed (and a few of you commented), I've started to grow a beard the last month or so. I'd say something like "I don't know how it happened," but that's a lie. I know exactly how it happened. Let me illustrate:

OK. So maybe that's not exactly how it happened. I think this might actually illustrate it a little bit more accurately...

Needless to say, it's grown on me a little bit (insert rimshot). I have this dilemma now as to whether or not I should actually try to groom it into something worth looking at or whether to shave the whole thing off completely. I was on BYU campus for various reasons today and I felt like such an outsider. Not that the students looked at me strangely or anything. (Who's that weird dude with the beard? Must be a UVU student.) Every man comes across this quandary at some point in their life. Is it worth having facial hair?

It's not something you can really ever ask a woman. Chances are they'll tell you to get rid of it. Baby-smooth faces are apparently just too good to pass up. Some days, though, you just want to be a rugged mountain man the likes of those in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers--one of our recent Netflix outings, by the way.

So, back to the question posed in the topic. I'll let you know how this all develops out.