And, the votes are in!

Well America has spoken (not really but I have always wanted to write that!) Fifty-eight percent of Shoe Dawg Shoe readers say the site is "fabulous," with 28% saying it is "great" and the other 14% saying "I don't get it" (that would be she doesn't get it - go figure.) I know who you are Miss Doesn't Get It and I will force you to go on an all day shopping expedition with me one of these days to add to your spartan shoe collection! I plan on doubling your purse collection as well. (Don't worry, it won't take us long...) Hmmmm...I am thinking of adding some of your favorite songs to my set.....=)!

Well, this week has been a bit hectic...I drove more than 400 miles in the past two days to take Nolan to Mimi and Pop's for "a boy's week" with cousins Collin and John Michael (Mick). Poor male cousins Matt and Devon are home (but I am sure they are loving it!) By the way, after a 2 day, life altering break up, Devon is back with "the girlfriend." She actually spoke to me last evening without my prompting and said "Hi" to me while on the phone with Devon (and he told me about it - time stopped for a moment) ... YAY! The planets have aligned and Karma is good at home.... UPDATE - 11:27 p.m. 8/1/07: Mark let me know "They are just friends." They went to a movie yesterday....there may still be hope for a reconciliation!!

I digress... I made it home in record time yesterday morning which made me reflect on the correlation between song selection and car speed (and of course, type of shoes you are wearing when driving - yesterday, I chose some bejeweled flip flops - love those shoes...)

I had tunes going the entire trip -- this is not all inclusive, believe it or not.....but...I listened to artists ranging from Aerosmith (Nolan's FAVORITE), Guns N Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Alice in Chains, Seether, Evanescence, Boston, Breaking Benjamin, Beyonce and Jay-Z, Blue Oyster Cult, Gordon Lightfoot (YES, Gordon Lightfoot...Edmund Fitzgerald, If You Could Read My Mind...my dad introduced me to him and I love him... along with Jim Croce and John Denver... we had the 8-tracks, okay? Gosh!.............Sorry, I reverted to my Napoleon Dynamite impression - Nolan and I recited most of the "classic" lines from the movie on the way down south by the way), Coldplay, The Cure (LOVE them), Snoop Dogg (what is a trip without him, right? Dee OH Double Gee You See...), Everclear, Foo Fighters (love them!), Extreme, Franz Ferdinand, EWF (Earth Wind & Fire for you newbies), Godsmack (hate to admit it), Linkin Park, Green Day, Indigo Girls, Kanye West, The Killers, J-Lo, Limp Bizkit (don't you love these names?), Mary J Blige (that's my girl - Listen to "Family Affair" - Mary's back!), Bloc Party (love them), Goo Goo Dolls, My Chemical Romance, The Offspring, Ohio Players (Love Rollercoaster), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Poison (been watching "Rock of Love" and had to channel my old high school days!), Puddle of Mudd, The Pussycat Dolls, Ratt (could've seen them and Poison on Father's Day but unselfishly decided that I would spend time with Mark...I've already tried to scam the bootleg tape!), Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Skid Row (hate to admit it), Sting, Switchfoot, Weezer, The Verve, The Weathergirls (of "It's Raining Men" fame), 311 (love them)...Okay, you get the point (you did after about the first 5 artists, right?)

So, I have come up with several mathematical theories and recommendations for music selection while on road trips based upon my trip home yesterday, my music selection and my car's velocity (and shoe selection).....

Theory #1: Heavy Rock/Alternative Rock/And Rock in general exponentially increases your car speed by between 15-20 mph -- when wearing heels - your speed increases by an additional 5 mph (except when you are in South Carolina around the state line and in Blacksburg - oh, in Georgia, around Commerce as well). Lightweight flip flops (with jewels) keep you in the 15-20 mph increase zone. By the way, don't math theories always have exceptions? (or is that spelling? I think it is spelling - I after E except after C...okay, yeah, it is spelling...)

Theory #2: Mellow tunes reduce your speed to that of the speed limit (or perhaps within a plus or minus 5 mph zone from the speed limit). Typically, this garners the "light horn" in the fast lane (light horn is the German phrase for someone flicking their brights at you to get the heck out of the way). Then, 98.5% of the time, you change the song and revert back to Theory #1 -- you'll show that you-know-what that he (it is typically a male) can't make it in NASCAR like you could. (The 1.5% of the time that you don't change the song typically means you have some latent anger issues and want to get back at the obnoxious driver behind you by driving particularly slllllllloooooowwww - just trap him between you and the person in the right lane - that'll get him...).....Okay, do you see a common lack of mellow artists in the mix above?...I didn't make it through most of the songs by the mellow artists...Michael Buble is not allowed when I am driving (when Mark is, that is fine).

Theory #3: Any song that references water, cold beverages or the beach exponentially increases the number of stops you have to take at rest areas or gas stations (by a power of five). Avoid water themes. Case in point: "It's Raining Men" set me back by at least an oh, 5 minute stop at Circle K.

Okay, parents, aunts, uncles and all adults concerned for the well-being of children, I need your opinion...Nolan and I were listening to GNR on the way down to Athens (okay, for you wet-behind-the-ears-rock fans -- that is Guns N Roses)...I looked back at him and he had his pinkie finger and his index finger raised (his thumb was crossed in front) and was doing a head banging move...I said to him, "Wow Nolan! That's pretty wild... What are you doing?" His answer: "I am doing the "Fist of Rock" mom!" He has taught this maneuver to his little (2 year old) sister Emma Claire as well...

Question of the day: Should I be concerned about this? - a 9 year old kid exhibiting blatent rock and "mosh pit" style behavior? (Okay, I won't go into it but big sister Jessa was recently caught in a mosh pit at a concert and passed overhead....Nuh-ice! ) Did the warning signs exist for him earlier and should I have done a rock intervention? Okay, the kid was in his car seat at age 2 and I asked him what he wanted to listen to on the radio (or tape player -- maybe Disney or Raffi?) as we were headed to preschool....without hesitation he said, "J-J-Jaded" (Aerosmith....) And, he has been playing the air guitar ever since....again, should I be concerned?

Post your comments on this.......And, your thoughts on the apparent abundance of time on my hands (Napoleon Dynamite? Listing a mantage of artists on my blog? ... The lengthy justifications for my optimal parenting skills.....Comment away!)