Not how many do you use -- but how many computers are sitting around in your house?

Don and I started in the mid-1980s with a pre-mouse computer that I'm still hoping to get the files from before I take it to the hazardous waste site.

Eventually, I got the black-and-white Mac laptop that was canceled before it went into full release (got it with the help of some kindly Mac person, who called me out of the blue when I complained that my order had been canceled). Later, I added a used color Mac laptop -- but didn't use it much. That was back in the day when I was (yes) unable to find clear instructions of how to widen a text box in Works.

Then, I bought a desktop PC, which is still sitting on one of the desks in my house -- though I've used it fewer than 10 times in the past five years or so.

Then, I bought a second one, this time placed in my living room. It's what I've used for scanning for years and years, generating an ever-evolving series of calendars (with Publisher), etc. It's been glitchy for the past three years or so, at one point attacked by spyware that Brent (bless his heart) managed to destroy a few months ago -- but I think there's actually a bad sector on the hard drive, which means all attempts at ScanDisc and defragging freeze eventually.

And then I bought a third PC, just as a sort of add-on and inventory "machine," so's to try to keep track of My Junk. It's the one I'm using for ComicBase, complete with a bar-code reader for fast "inventory" update.

But that was basically an inventory system, desk-locked, so I bought a fourth PC, this one a laptop that I've lugged about so's to be able to work wherever I went. It's danged heavy but does have WiFi, and it's where I've stored the digital photos from my Sony camera. However, it doesn't have a DVD burner, so ...

Last night, I found an excellent buy at Sam's Club, which means I have a Dell computer sitting in my car, just waiting for me to beg Brent to help me lug it into the house.

That means ...

Oh, wait. I forgot. I have a Palm Pilot that lets me write in Microsoft Word and link it to the laptop. Does that constitute another computer? And my Super-Phone is actually called a Pocket PC, and I can post online from it via dial-up. So.

That means ...

Five PCs plus two hand-held minis.

And you?