I'm sure you tried a couple things before you decided that it's just not working the way you like it, but for me it seems that static IPs, your way, should be no problem [1,2,3] with the on-board tools.
Sound: Never had that (or any related) issue since I stopped running weird apps under wine and I light a candle for Lennart every other day for a sound solution that just works in my world, whatever I throw at it.
1: http://wiki.debian.org/NetworkManager#Enabling_Interface_Man...
2: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/oneiric/man5/NetworkMana...