Googlefasting: Day 2

Well, I posted an interim update (day 1.5) to introduce the concept of Googlefasting to Lockergnomies. Didn't use search for the better part of the morning, as I was out and about (including speaking at the Podcast Hotel over lunch).

• Need to stop mail from coming to us while we're gone on vacation. I try “stop mail” in Yahoo! and MSN – don't find what I need. I try “stop postal service” in both, again, with no useful results (as in, a direct link to the USPS page). I try “vacation postal service” and finally get a #1 result in Yahoo! – I should've used that keyword in the first place, and attribute this round to PEBKAC.
• Starting to realize I have an emotional attachment to Google – a somewhat unhealthy co-dependency thing. It's not that the other search engines don't work, it's just that I've been treated so well by Google's search for so long that I'm comparing… my old girlfriend to my new girlfriend. Sorry, that's the only analogy that comes to mind.
• Set up a Ning account for grins. Needed to find a Dog Breed list (preferrably, separated by commas). Tried “Dog Breeds” to no easy avail. “dog breeds list” yeilded many more workable results. I probably would have to do the same thing in Google – it just doesn't seem to be as painful (largely because I'm used to seeing what it is I want to see – or don't feel bad if I can't find something).
• Searched for “vista virtual pc” in the hopes of finding instructions for setting up Windows Vista on Microsoft's Virtual PC. No matter what keyword combinations I used, I couldn't find one decent set of instructions. Gave up after 10 tries. This is where all search engines could learn a lesson – especially if I use keywords like “instructions” in my query. Gimme the help first!
• Needed to find Microsoft's tool to mount ISO files, so I used “mount iso windows microsoft” in Yahoo! and… the first hit wasn't for Microsoft's official page. Again, it'd be nice if search engines could recognize that I was looking to download a file, possibly, and filter out the EXE links (even scan 'em for viruses automatically, and tell me whether or not they've been flagged as spyware).
• Still can't figure out how to work MSN Search. The results are just… not relevant. I must be doing something wrong.
• Did several other searches centered around trying to find updated information about Vista beta 2 on Virtual PC (and its ghastly performance). Can't say that Google would have fared any better, as I'm not using it – which is really putting a crimp on my productivity (even though that crimp may be half mental).

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