Feeling frazzled (alternate title: REALLY annoying things!!)

• We bought our Dyson purifier/humidifier/fan unit on Oct. 17th. Aside from the 2+ weeks we were away, it's been in pretty much constant use (albeit we didn't need the humidifier function much the first few weeks, until the weather turned much colder and dryer in November, and we don't usually leave it running at night).  That's 2-3 months -- and today was the first time I got the notification that a deep cleaning cycle was required. (The manual says it's generally needed once a month or so, albeit a lot will depend on how hard your water is and how much it's being used. 
• The instructions were easy to follow, a couple of starter packets of citric acid were provided with machine (not sure where I'm going to find it once those run out??), and I set everything up and left the machine to do its stuff. Easy peasy, right? 
• Except... nothing seemed to be happening. When I started the cycle, a countdown started from 60:00. It got to 59:50 and... stalled.  It did progress a little after a while, but one hour later, the timer had barely budged two minutes. 
• I went online & discovered this is a common complaint/issue about these units. (Sigh.)  A few people had suggestions about things you could try to get the thing moving again. 
• Nothing worked.  
• In frustration, I decided to just dump the citric acid water (the pump & evaporator unit had been soaking in it for a few hours by then, which I figured must have helped clean SOMETHING, right?), clean it all out, refill it (I even used filtered water from the Brita pitcher). 
• But when I put the tank back in place, it just tried to get me to continue the deep clean cycle. I could NOT get it to do anything else. I tried holding down the power buttons on both the unit itself and the remote for 10 seconds, simultaneously, to reset the machine to factory settings. Didn't work. The only thing I could/can do was turn the machine off. (And back on again, for all the good it did me.)  
• I then spent the better part of an hour trying to reach Dyson Canada customer service. I had the chat window open on my laptop while I was on hold on the telephone. The guy on the chat (the first to respond) eventually told me it was probably the pump unit. It's covered by warranty -- but of course it's out of stock right now. They're supposed to send me an email when it's available again. 
• I did eventually speak to someone on the phone (after being transferred twice). After several minutes (dictating all my personal information, AGAIN...)(as a registered warranty customer, don't they have this stuff on file??), she eventually told me I had two choices:  she could send me a mailing label and I could pack the unit back up in the box it came in and ship it by courier to them for exchange/replacement. I told her we don't HAVE the original box anymore. She said any box would do. Like it's easy to find boxes that would fit a rather large piece of very expensive equipment and allow it to arrive safely, without too much rattling around?? (We're not talking shoeboxes here...!)  
• The other option would be to bring the unit to the Dyson warehouse/repair shop, about a half-hour's drive from where we live, for repair. (What about people who live further away??)  Dh reluctantly chose this option. The rep said she would email me a service ticket, location information, etc., and we could take it there any time (no appointment required).  No word on how long the repairs might take. 
• Four hours later, customer service lines are closed, and I still don't have the email. :p 
• I have basically spent the entire day on this thing, stressing out about it. :p 
• Without the humidifier going, the humidity in our unit has not risen above 40% and has been as low as 35%.  Dh, of course, has been dealing with eczema over the past few months, and I have dry-eye issues (which were associated with the eye surgery I had this past summer), which are two big reasons why we were keen to buy a humidifier before the colder, dryer winter weather kicked in. The Dyson did help (until it didn't...!). 
• Dh is furious and says he's never buying another Dyson again. Okay -- but we need to at least try to get this one fixed or replaced (or refunded) first. We spent enough money to buy it and I'm not about to just write it off without a fight...!  
• While we were away over Christmas, we received an email from our property manager notifying residents of our building about a 12-storey condo building that developers are proposing to build nearby. As in, RIGHT NEXT DOOR to us. 
• The proposed site is on the corner of the busy main street/highway that the front of our building faces and a residential street, leading into an older but still very nice residential subdivision. It's across the street from yet another fair-sized condo building (8 storeys, 276 units) that faces onto the main road/highway (built on the site of a small former strip plaza, within the past 4-5 years, since we moved here).  There is yet ANOTHER proposed condo building (14 storeys) proposed to be built a short distance down the main road/highway from that one, backing onto the residential street and sandwiched between existing houses. There is also a large development of townhouses across the main road/highway that was built prior to our move here, but which longtime residents also had to live with during construction. 
• The proposed building would replace three houses. These are NOT huge houses or lots -- ample, but not huge, a fair amount of street frontage but not very deep -- and I find it hard to fathom how they are going to squeeze a 12-storey building (not sure how many units are being proposed?), plus parking, etc., onto the available space. The house right on the corner is older and slightly run down, but there doesn't seem to be anything visibly wrong with the other two, which look like they were built in the late 1970s or early/mid-1980s. 
• How'd you like to be the houses next door or across the street from this proposed development??  The house that's just two down from the site has been gutted and extensively renovated over the past year, inside and out. I can just imagine, after spending all that money to upgrade his property, how pleased THAT owner is to learn about what's being planned!!  
• We haven't talked to any of our neighbours since we got back, but I'm sure this has not been well received. Our building is 7 storeys and 122 units (built on what was once several acres of large empty space -- no doubt former farmland).  Our own unit is located almost as far away from the proposed new building as you can get in our building -- but we'd still be subject to a whole lot of noise and dirt, etc., while construction is under way (and no doubt our beautiful sunset views would be at least partially obstructed).  It would be even worse for the units on the side closest to the site:  they'll have construction going on almost directly below their windows/balconies, and once it's finally done, they'll have units, balconies and neighbours mere yards away. 
• You'll recall that for the first three years we lived here, we had construction all around us:  60 townhouses were sandwiched into the space behind our building (which also affected the houses bordering that space -- some of which will also be affected by this proposed new development), as well as a new rapid transit corridor and the accompanying roadwork out front. There was a lot of noise and a lot of dirt... a lot of 7 a.m. wakeups (or earlier!) to the sound of construction workers yelling at each other and vibrations from heavy equipment being brought in. I am NOT looking forward to another several years of more of the same! 
• I understand that we need more housing, and especially more affordable housing. I understand that, being located on a main thoroughfare and transit corridor, this is a prime area for (re)development. BUT, squeezing these large developments onto tiny residential lots, on residential streets?  
• The first public hearing will be held in early February. I'm considering sending an email, and wondering whether the meeting will be available to watch online??   
• Wednesday morning, i.e., tomorrow, is usually the time we go to visit SIL & LGN. Except... he's not there;  hasn't been for a couple of weeks now. His mom was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome just before Christmas, and is on short-term disability from her work-at-home job right now. We're not sure when she'll be cleared to return. So LGN is at home with his mom now (albeit he was at his grandmother's one day last week and I got to see him then, which I wrote about here). 
• We knew LGN would be off to school (!! -- junior kindergarten) this fall -- and were anticipating the hole that would create in our week then. We just didn't think it would happen so soon. Funny, we usually only saw him a couple of hours a week anyway -- but we sure miss the little guy. :(