Extending Network

[chip33az at netscape.net]

My girlfriend took a job in Tucson and I've been thinking of ways to 
extend my network to her apartment.  If there is a problem, there has to 
be a tech solution to it (not always the best though).  Besides the geek 
factor, I wanted to learn about several of these topics, so I thought it 
would be good to try.

We both have high speed Internet (she:Qwest, me:Cox).  I was thinking of 
setting up a laptop for her to do:

1.  Hamachi VPN:  This would automatically connect to my main server 
which would be the Asterisk and SageTV server.  Seems like it would be 
easier than poking holes in my firewall.  I have never used this so I 
have to read up on it and also try to start it automatically when the 
laptop boots.
2.  SageTV would be installed an running the Placeshifter software.  I 
haven't tried this before (running MythTV now), but it should work over 
high speed Internet.  I should be testing in a few weeks once I get some 
more parts.  She doesn't have cable TV at her place.
3.  Asterisk would also be installed and a VoIP phone would be 
connected.  I have a second line that it would connect to here.  That 
way we could call each other for free and she can make calls through my 
second line and save on long distance charges.

How does this sound?  Doable?

I know some of it doesn't need to be done, like Asterisk, since she has 
a cell phone with a large number of minutes.  I just figured it would be 
fun to try out.