I still say that we shouldn't try to analyze anything that dave does. The only reason he does these things is to confuse us more.

Example:
He may have finished rendering before the hint went out, but he didn't want us to know, so he posted the away message.
OR
He didn't finish rendering before the hint and he truthfully posted the away message.
OR
He didn't finish rendering, but knowing that we would know the above two possibilites, he posted the away message to confuse us.
OR
He finished the rendering, but still wanted to confuse us.

And the list goes on.

So i say don't try to analyze Dave Lavery