diff --git a/scripts/.local/scripts/clean_screenshots b/scripts/.local/scripts/clean_screenshots
index 67299d2..29bb217 100755
--- a/scripts/.local/scripts/clean_screenshots
+++ b/scripts/.local/scripts/clean_screenshots
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 for file in "$SCREENSHOTS"/*; do
-  echo "Removing file: $file" >&2
   rm "$file"
 done
diff --git a/scripts/.local/scripts/newx b/scripts/.local/scripts/newx
index 5a55416..c536b2b 100755
--- a/scripts/.local/scripts/newx
+++ b/scripts/.local/scripts/newx
@@ -6,9 +6,13 @@
 test ! -n "${SCRIPTS}" && echo "SCRIPTS not set" && exit 1;
 
 # fallback to check if the name arg ${1} exists, if not show usage text.
-test ! -n "${1}" && echo "usage: newscript <name>" && exit 1;
+test ! -n "${1}" && \
+  echo "usage: newscript <name> <optional: shell>" && \
+  echo "shell defaults to `sh` if not supplied" && \
+  exit 1;
 
 path="${SCRIPTS}/${1}"
+shell="${2:-sh}"
 
 if [ -e "${path}" ]; then
   read -p "${1} already exists. Edit? " yes
@@ -18,7 +22,7 @@ if [ -e "${path}" ]; then
   exit 0
 fi
 
-printf "#!/bin/sh\n\n" > "${path}"
+printf "#!/bin/${shell}"\n\n" > "${path}"
 chmod +x "${path}"
 exec vim +2 "${path}"
 
diff --git a/scripts/install_launch_agents b/scripts/install_launch_agents
index f5bb61b..866a7cc 100755
--- a/scripts/install_launch_agents
+++ b/scripts/install_launch_agents
@@ -10,8 +10,10 @@ uid="$(id -u "$(whoami)")"
 mkdir -p "$agent_dir"
 
 for file in "${DOTFILES}"/macOS/LaunchAgents/*.plist; do
-  filename=$(basename "${file}")
+  # get just the base file name, similar to using `basename` but w/o a subshell
+  filename="${file##*/}"
   path="${agent_dir}/${filename}"
+  echo "$filename"
   if ! test -e "${path}"; then
     echo "Installing Agent: ${filename}"
     cp "${file}" "${path}"