Saving a few queries for default installs

I have OC 1.5.3 and one store.

It's always the same storeid and always the same language, so I want to remove these queries from index.php.

I commented out the two $store_query lines, so defaults to: $config->set('config_store_id', 0);

saved me one query there.

I'm now trying to hardcode "//language detection" but this one isn't as straight forward. Anyone know how to get away from this query for a default "en" language to be hardcoded?

Also, I set "store_id" as the index for the settings table. Anyone have suggestions around this?

Also, does anyone have any code to convert the category drop down when adding new products to be autocomplete instead of a drop down like in 1.5.6?

thanks!

really? no one did this?

bump