If the float in the site glass doesn't move at all, even after you let the water wand run for a while, then it is just stuck up there. Can you see the level of the water? Is it moving? If it is stuck and it annoys you, you can replace the whole site glass zone for less than $25. If you decide to take this approach, make sure you buy one of everything (gasket, float, bolts, etc) and two site glasses as they break very easily during installation.
The most likely culprit for exceedingly high water levels is the autofill sensor is scaled up at the bottom. This is a cheap fix as a new autofill sensor is around $20. The sensor is bolted into the top of your boiler and has the orangish cable attached to it. Just pull that cable off the top (tab connector) and unscrew (after the machine cools all_the_way_down). If it is scaled up, you can try cleaning off the scale or just buy a new one.
The intricacies for pulling shots is a subject worthy of pages of debate. To me, what is more important than pulling to a specific volume is pulling until the stream tells me it is done (blonding, striping dissipates, the crema begins to thin). You will probably need to pull about 40 million shots to recognize the line between what you like and what you dont. So many variables and so few ways to objectively measure them.
A good place to look for resources on this kind of discussion is home-barista.com.