We replaced the old incandescent light bulbs in our chandelier with some of the new-fangled energy- (and money-?) saving ones.

A few thoughts:

1. They look like like eggs and remind us of the gleek Mork had to hit himself in the head with — or die.
2. They contain mercury. What happens when they hit the landfills and burst?
3. They take a long time to get bright. This means you have to keep them on longer to use them the same way, which defeats the cost-saving purpose, at least in part.
4. Also, still on number 3, what happens when you need light right this instant? What if there’s something in your eye, and you need to see in the bathroom mirror? What if it’s night, and you’ve already gone to your car to leave, but then you realize you forgot something in the bedroom? I don’t know about you, but trying to see in dim light in any kind of situation like these can give me an instant headache.

So, the only true benefit of these new light bulbs that we can see is that they’re supposed to last longer, saving us money.

Well, we haven’t proven that yet and don’t believe every ad we see. And will we remember when we bought them to figure it out? Probably not.

I guess overall, this is a thumbs-down.

However, since companies are phasing out incandescents as we speak, we’ll just have to turn on the switches a little earlier and wait patiently.