Well in case anyone else comes to this looking for a similar solution. I did improve on the second issue. I right clicked on the Activity Bar widget and selected Show Alternatives and chose Activity Manager. That brings the area at the bottom right of the panel to just say the current Activity. I can use shortcuts to swap between them or click on it and choose.
I still haven’t figured out how to get my pinned apps to stay where they.
I love my 13". Does exactly what I need. I kind of want the 12", but I don’t really need it. So i’m going to hold off.