Thanks y'all for your replies. I found this forum on a thread at the ECN Forum.

Merritt- as for your statement that there is no good way to protect Cat 5 outdoors, what about when you all run your home runs to the outside for the phone company to land in the demarc? This is basically what i will be doing: in a remodel, adding a home run from a bedroom to the demarc, which as i understand it (haven't been to the site yet) is located right outside the bedroom wall. So if the Cat 5 is exposed for such a short lenght is that considered okay? or is your answer still the same? Thanks.