Quick site monitoring script

monitor.py

import pickle, os, sys, logging
from httplib import HTTPConnection, socket
from smtplib import SMTP
import pynotify
import time

pynotify.init("Monitoring")

def show_message(message):
    n = pynotify.Notification("Status", message)
    n.show()

def get_site_status(url):
    response = get_response(url)
    try:
        if getattr(response, 'status') == 200:
            return 'up'
    except AttributeError:
    	pass
    return 'down'
        
def get_response(url):
    '''Return response object from URL'''
    try:
        conn = HTTPConnection(url)
        conn.request('HEAD', '/')
        return conn.getresponse()
    except socket.error, e:
    	print e
        return None
    except Exception, e:
        show_message("Exiting")
        exit(1)

import sys
url = sys.argv[1]
show_message('Monitoring ' + url)

while True:
    if get_site_status(url) != 'up':
        show_message(url + ' is down')
    time.sleep(60)