activity: tighten up the polling code a bit
activity: tighten up the polling code a bit

tscholl2/smc,sagemathinc/smc,sagemathinc/smc,tscholl2/smc,DrXyzzy/smc,sagemathinc/smc,DrXyzzy/smc,sagemathinc/smc,tscholl2/smc,DrXyzzy/smc,tscholl2/smc,tscholl2/smc,DrXyzzy/smc