I did not fall over. My shoes came in the mail today, and I was too eager to ride, so I didn't really dial in the tension or cleat position. I sort of just threw them on there and clipped in/out maybe 3 times to see how the system worked before I went out on my ride. I picked up a pair of Exustar SR221's from Nashbar. They only ran me $47 shipped and they have a carbon fiber sole. They only have small sizes left though. I believe I've seen them on ebay being sold for $60-70.

Noticeable performance increase. Not as much of a gain as I had thought, but definitely better than my clip/strap setup on first impression.

Here's a pic.