I just installed a very basic but working Debian Woody system on my laptop, but now I need to finish the install over the internet because I didn't have access to the internet during install.

Is there any way I can do this from a shell now that I have an internet connection?

Yup. If you have your network address, you should just be able to type base-config as root and change your repositories to the Debian servers. Then it should do the rest of the install from the net.

Hmmm... ran base-config, I get to 'Run tasksel?' and hit 'yes', and it skips it and goes straight to dselect. And when I run dselect, all I see are packages that are already installed.

What all do you have installed? I honestly have never ever ran tasksel or dselect during install. I always just set up the base system and then apt-get install the programs I want. From base config, just select Configure apt and change it to be network based. Then just apt-get install to your hearts delight...

I just ran base config to see what it says, when I do Select and Install applications, then I get a menu to select desktop, server, dns, etc, etc.

Well, since I don't have a menu for that (for whatever reason) in my base-config, I guess I'll give apt-get a try.

Thanks!

Did you reconfigure apt?

I configured it and ran update and upgrade, then install.

I went to debian.org to find a list of packages and a lot of them are labeled for Sarge. Will they work with Woody too?

I think debian will support woody packages for sometime. There is a woody to sarge guide if you are interested. You can apt-get install synaptic for gui apt pkg manager once you have basic desktop running.After apt-setup done>apt-get-update>apt-get upgrade>apt-get install mdetect read-edid hwinfo discover x-window-system gdm gnome (or kdm kde) nano(editor) can get you started unless you use tasksel and choose desktop-system.
Check Macondo article in LQ tutorial section and at top of this forum for detailed help with install/config.