diff --git a/.ackrc b/.ackrc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6b3856
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ackrc
@@ -0,0 +1,399 @@
+--nobreak
+--ignore-ack-defaults
+# This is the default ackrc for ack version 2.14.
+
+# There are four different ways to match
+#
+# is:  Match the filename exactly
+#
+# ext: Match the extension of the filename exactly
+#
+# match: Match the filename against a Perl regular expression
+#
+# firstlinematch: Match the first 250 characters of the first line
+#   of text against a Perl regular expression.  This is only for
+#   the --type-add option.
+
+
+### Directories to ignore
+
+# Bazaar
+# http://bazaar.canonical.com/
+--ignore-directory=is:.bzr
+
+# Codeville
+# http://freecode.com/projects/codeville
+--ignore-directory=is:.cdv
+
+# Interface Builder (Xcode)
+# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_Builder
+--ignore-directory=is:~.dep
+--ignore-directory=is:~.dot
+--ignore-directory=is:~.nib
+--ignore-directory=is:~.plst
+
+# Git
+# http://git-scm.com/
+--ignore-directory=is:.git
+
+# Mercurial
+# http://mercurial.selenic.com/
+--ignore-directory=is:.hg
+
+# quilt
+# http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Quilt
+--ignore-directory=is:.pc
+
+# Subversion
+# http://subversion.tigris.org/
+--ignore-directory=is:.svn
+
+# Monotone
+# http://www.monotone.ca/
+--ignore-directory=is:_MTN
+
+# CVS
+# http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/cvs
+--ignore-directory=is:CVS
+
+# RCS
+# http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs/
+--ignore-directory=is:RCS
+
+# SCCS
+# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_Code_Control_System
+--ignore-directory=is:SCCS
+
+# darcs
+# http://darcs.net/
+--ignore-directory=is:_darcs
+
+# Vault/Fortress
+--ignore-directory=is:_sgbak
+
+# autoconf
+# http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/
+--ignore-directory=is:autom4te.cache
+
+# Perl module building
+--ignore-directory=is:blib
+--ignore-directory=is:_build
+
+# Perl Devel::Cover module's output directory
+# https://metacpan.org/release/Devel-Cover
+--ignore-directory=is:cover_db
+
+# Node modules created by npm
+--ignore-directory=is:node_modules
+
+# CMake cache
+# http://www.cmake.org/
+--ignore-directory=is:CMakeFiles
+
+# Eclipse workspace folder
+# http://eclipse.org/
+--ignore-directory=is:.metadata
+
+# Cabal (Haskell) sandboxes
+# http://www.haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/installing-packages.html
+--ignore-directory=is:.cabal-sandbox
+
+### Files to ignore
+
+# Backup files
+--ignore-file=ext:bak
+--ignore-file=match:/~$/
+
+# Emacs swap files
+--ignore-file=match:/^#.+#$/
+
+# vi/vim swap files http://vim.org/
+--ignore-file=match:/[._].*\.swp$/
+
+# core dumps
+--ignore-file=match:/core\.\d+$/
+
+# minified Javascript
+--ignore-file=match:/[.-]min[.]js$/
+--ignore-file=match:/[.]js[.]min$/
+
+# minified CSS
+--ignore-file=match:/[.]min[.]css$/
+--ignore-file=match:/[.]css[.]min$/
+
+# JS and CSS source maps
+--ignore-file=match:/[.]js[.]map$/
+--ignore-file=match:/[.]css[.]map$/
+
+# PDFs, because they pass Perl's -T detection
+--ignore-file=ext:pdf
+
+# Common graphics, just as an optimization
+--ignore-file=ext:gif,jpg,jpeg,png
+
+
+### Filetypes defined
+
+# Perl
+# http://perl.org/
+--type-add=perl:ext:pl,pm,pod,t,psgi
+--type-add=perl:firstlinematch:/^#!.*\bperl/
+
+# Perl tests
+--type-add=perltest:ext:t
+
+# Makefiles
+# http://www.gnu.org/s/make/
+--type-add=make:ext:mk
+--type-add=make:ext:mak
+--type-add=make:is:makefile
+--type-add=make:is:Makefile
+--type-add=make:is:Makefile.Debug
+--type-add=make:is:Makefile.Release
+
+# Rakefiles
+# http://rake.rubyforge.org/
+--type-add=rake:is:Rakefile
+
+# CMake
+# http://www.cmake.org/
+--type-add=cmake:is:CMakeLists.txt
+--type-add=cmake:ext:cmake
+
+# Actionscript
+--type-add=actionscript:ext:as,mxml
+
+# Ada
+# http://www.adaic.org/
+--type-add=ada:ext:ada,adb,ads
+
+# ASP
+# http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa286483.aspx
+--type-add=asp:ext:asp
+
+# ASP.Net
+# http://www.asp.net/
+--type-add=aspx:ext:master,ascx,asmx,aspx,svc
+
+# Assembly
+--type-add=asm:ext:asm,s
+
+# Batch
+--type-add=batch:ext:bat,cmd
+
+# ColdFusion
+# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColdFusion
+--type-add=cfmx:ext:cfc,cfm,cfml
+
+# Clojure
+# http://clojure.org/
+--type-add=clojure:ext:clj
+
+# C
+# .xs are Perl C files
+--type-add=cc:ext:c,h,xs
+
+# C header files
+--type-add=hh:ext:h
+
+# CoffeeScript
+# http://coffeescript.org/
+--type-add=coffeescript:ext:coffee
+
+# C++
+--type-add=cpp:ext:cpp,cc,cxx,m,hpp,hh,h,hxx
+
+# C#
+--type-add=csharp:ext:cs
+
+# CSS
+# http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/
+--type-add=css:ext:css
+
+# Dart
+# http://www.dartlang.org/
+--type-add=dart:ext:dart
+
+# Delphi
+# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarcadero_Delphi
+--type-add=delphi:ext:pas,int,dfm,nfm,dof,dpk,dproj,groupproj,bdsgroup,bdsproj
+
+# Elixir
+# http://elixir-lang.org/
+--type-add=elixir:ext:ex,exs
+
+# Emacs Lisp
+# http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs
+--type-add=elisp:ext:el
+
+# Erlang
+# http://www.erlang.org/
+--type-add=erlang:ext:erl,hrl
+
+# Fortran
+# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortran
+--type-add=fortran:ext:f,f77,f90,f95,f03,for,ftn,fpp
+
+# Go
+# http://golang.org/
+--type-add=go:ext:go
+
+# Groovy
+# http://groovy.codehaus.org/
+--type-add=groovy:ext:groovy,gtmpl,gpp,grunit,gradle
+
+# Haskell
+# http://www.haskell.org/
+--type-add=haskell:ext:hs,lhs
+
+# HTML
+--type-add=html:ext:htm,html
+
+# Jade
+# http://jade-lang.com/
+--type-add=jade:ext:jade
+
+# Java
+# http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/index.html
+--type-add=java:ext:java,properties
+
+# JavaScript
+--type-add=js:ext:js
+
+# JSP
+# http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javaee/jsp/index.html
+--type-add=jsp:ext:jsp,jspx,jhtm,jhtml
+
+# JSON
+# http://www.json.org/
+--type-add=json:ext:json
+
+# Less
+# http://www.lesscss.org/
+--type-add=less:ext:less
+
+# Common Lisp
+# http://common-lisp.net/
+--type-add=lisp:ext:lisp,lsp
+
+# Lua
+# http://www.lua.org/
+--type-add=lua:ext:lua
+--type-add=lua:firstlinematch:/^#!.*\blua(jit)?/
+
+# Objective-C
+--type-add=objc:ext:m,h
+
+# Objective-C++
+--type-add=objcpp:ext:mm,h
+
+# OCaml
+# http://caml.inria.fr/
+--type-add=ocaml:ext:ml,mli
+
+# Matlab
+# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MATLAB
+--type-add=matlab:ext:m
+
+# Parrot
+# http://www.parrot.org/
+--type-add=parrot:ext:pir,pasm,pmc,ops,pod,pg,tg
+
+# PHP
+# http://www.php.net/
+--type-add=php:ext:php,phpt,php3,php4,php5,phtml
+--type-add=php:firstlinematch:/^#!.*\bphp/
+
+# Plone
+# http://plone.org/
+--type-add=plone:ext:pt,cpt,metadata,cpy,py
+
+# Python
+# http://www.python.org/
+--type-add=python:ext:py
+--type-add=python:firstlinematch:/^#!.*\bpython/
+
+# R
+# http://www.r-project.org/
+--type-add=rr:ext:R
+
+# reStructured Text
+# http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html
+--type-add=rst:ext:rst
+
+# Ruby
+# http://www.ruby-lang.org/
+--type-add=ruby:ext:rb,rhtml,rjs,rxml,erb,rake,spec
+--type-add=ruby:is:Rakefile
+--type-add=ruby:firstlinematch:/^#!.*\bruby/
+
+# Rust
+# http://www.rust-lang.org/
+--type-add=rust:ext:rs
+
+# Sass
+# http://sass-lang.com
+--type-add=sass:ext:sass,scss
+
+# Scala
+# http://www.scala-lang.org/
+--type-add=scala:ext:scala
+
+# Scheme
+# http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/projects/scheme/
+--type-add=scheme:ext:scm,ss
+
+# Shell
+--type-add=shell:ext:sh,bash,csh,tcsh,ksh,zsh,fish
+--type-add=shell:firstlinematch:/^#!.*\b(?:ba|t?c|k|z|fi)?sh\b/
+
+# Smalltalk
+# http://www.smalltalk.org/
+--type-add=smalltalk:ext:st
+
+# Smarty
+# http://www.smarty.net/
+--type-add=smarty:ext:tpl
+
+# SQL
+# http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=45498
+--type-add=sql:ext:sql,ctl
+
+# Stylus
+# http://learnboost.github.io/stylus/
+--type-add=stylus:ext:styl
+
+# Tcl
+# http://www.tcl.tk/
+--type-add=tcl:ext:tcl,itcl,itk
+
+# LaTeX
+# http://www.latex-project.org/
+--type-add=tex:ext:tex,cls,sty
+
+# Template Toolkit (Perl)
+# http://template-toolkit.org/
+--type-add=tt:ext:tt,tt2,ttml
+
+# Visual Basic
+--type-add=vb:ext:bas,cls,frm,ctl,vb,resx
+
+# Verilog
+--type-add=verilog:ext:v,vh,sv
+
+# VHDL
+# http://www.eda.org/twiki/bin/view.cgi/P1076/WebHome
+--type-add=vhdl:ext:vhd,vhdl
+
+# Vim
+# http://www.vim.org/
+--type-add=vim:ext:vim
+
+# XML
+# http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-xml/
+--type-add=xml:ext:xml,dtd,xsl,xslt,ent
+--type-add=xml:firstlinematch:/<[?]xml/
+
+# YAML
+# http://yaml.org/
+--type-add=yaml:ext:yaml,yml
diff --git a/.bash_aliases b/.bash_aliases
index 69f4927..0ed1d80 100644
--- a/.bash_aliases
+++ b/.bash_aliases
@@ -70,3 +70,6 @@ alias pssh='parallel-ssh'
 alias sudei='sudo -Ei'
 alias svim='sudo -E vim'
 alias telnet='echo use the curl method'
+
+# hopefully, there's ack-grep installed on the system...
+alias ag='ack-grep'
diff --git a/create.sh b/create.sh
index 556e245..868077e 100755
--- a/create.sh
+++ b/create.sh
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ create_link .bash_profile
 create_link .bashrc
 create_link .bashrc_local
 create_link .tmux.conf
+create_ling .ackrc
 
 if [ -d $HOME/.vim ]
 then