RE: The search engine frustrates me....
I have the defaults set to provide a WIDER results set to ensure obscure things are in fact found. If your results are too wide then start toying w/the parameters at will to narrow the field. We are not google by any means (at 100 billion market cap they have and 4000 or so employees we just can't compete and be as good) but if you tweak the parameters on that page you should be able to get a hang of how to tweak it in those cases where your results set is too wide and at least significantly improve the results.
it supports boolean (and/or searches), results by date or rank, less precise/more precise options and more. Just feel free to flip some switches to make it work for your particular search. you won't break anything I promise and a few tweaks can turn a shotgun result set into a precision rifle shot