Update pidgin status message periodically with a countdown timer.

pidgin-countdown.sh

#!/bin/bash
upto=`date -d "Mar 30 14:30" +%s`
text="to go!"

while true; do
    now=`date +%s`
    count=`expr $upto - $now`
    hours=`expr $count / 3600`
    minutes=`expr $count % 3600 / 60`

    if [ "$hours" -gt "0" ] ; then
        if [ "$minutes" -gt "0" ] ; then
            msg=$hours" Hour(s) "$minutes" Minute(s) ";
        else
            msg=$hours" Hour(s) ";
        fi
    else
        msg=$minutes" Minute(s) ";
    fi
    status=$msg$text
    echo $status
    `purple-remote setstatus?message="$status"`
    sleep 60
done