Whoa, that sucks.

Yes, I should be able to help, but you caught me at the worst possible time. If no one helps you within the next 24 hours I should be able to cook something up for you by then. In the meantime, here's a link that show an exec of a command line call and here's a very simple example of a desktop (home) applet. You need to add a widget that will signal your command line calls. Also, you probably need to open up your /etc/sudoers to allow "user" some more power.

Good luck!