My electric razor finally gave up the ghost recently. This is truly a sad occasion, as I toiled arduously to find this particular device in the first place. After approximately seven years of faithful buzzing and trimming, I must once again scour the world for the perfect face-smoother.

It took me literally a week of research to finally settle on one particular razor. I was very tired of straight razors, which range from the cheap kind that require you to use two or three at each sitting because the blades go dull before you finish to the pricey quad-blade-laser-exacto-trim blades that leave your face feeling like it just came out of the womb. I was hunting for that one electric device that satisfies both performance and price. I actually read forums on electric razors. Yes, people actually take the time to discuss electric razors in online public forums.

I finally settled on the Norelco Quadra 7865 XL. It took a few days for my face to adjust to having a lawnmower run over it, but after that I knew the research had paid off in spades. I bought replacement blades just once in the life of the Quadra, bringing the 7-year total to about $100. If I count the costs associated with 7 years of razors and shaving cream (I never did use aftershave), I am pretty sure I come out on top. And to top off the price for performance ratio, I bought it on eBay.

So now I am without my trusted friend, who slowly journeyed into electric oblivion. Its death was not sudden, as the internal rechargeable battery was getting steadily less effective until one day it finally required the wall outlet. I could tell the functionality was dwindling as the performance began to drift from smooth to actually jerking hairs from my face. The speed of the motor no longer had that zip. Replacement blades won't be enough this time.

It is time to drift back to the underworld of electric razor forums and eBay listings. What fantastic new monstrosities have been created in seven years?!? I will soon know.

Format wars and changes are no fun for electronics consumers. Vinyl vs 8-Track vs Cassette, Cassette vs CD, VHS vs BetaMax, DVD vs LaserDisc, HD-DVD vs Blue-Ray, blah, blah, blah. A few people go out on a limb and pick a technology based on educated choice, others perhaps because it looks better with the furniture. Nobody enjoys getting burned by an expensive product that doesn't fulfill the purposes they thought it would.

An entertainment format war has similarities to how people pick (or don't pick) a new format for their lives. Imagine yourself a consumer, fearful of picking something obsolete, of not being able to continue to live the old format anymore, of being told that you have to change when you don't feel prepared or educated enough to make such a leap.

The fact is, some formats are made obsolete. If God hadn't planned for a format change, the old way would have ruined us all. We had to experience the old way in order to be able to handle and understand the new. Christ came and fulfilled the old format of the Law of sin & death, changing it to a living, breathing law of life.

I, for one, am 100% into the new format. The old has gone, the new has come. In my experience, it has proven itself the best for life. Try it out; give it a thorough, open-minded test. When you are convinced it is the best format, be sure to tell all your friends about it, too.

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