And then there were three...

[Patrysha]

Three people in my home office that is.

Since there are two computers on the main floor, one in the master bedroom and two mobile. The whole house is my office.

Sadly, the extra two have a job of their own and aren't technically working for me -- they're my sons and their work is school...via two of the five aforementioned computers.

I just have to find a few sports activities to get the boys involved in for their phys ed requirements, and maybe some music lessons to. The way the province here has it set up is that we are technically homeschooling, so we get an education credit that is a portion of what they would have paid out if they were fully enrolled in public school. So...this gives us enough to now afford a few of those things that we've kept meaning to budget for.

So now there are three of us "working from home"

If this experiment works, we can bring the youngest home in two years since they start the online option in grade 4.

[cbscreative]

Funny how us WAH types seem to have more computers than average. We have 5 people in the house, 4 computers, and I suspect the next computer is not too far off. What will be funny is if I ever have more than 5. It could happen though because only 1 of ours so far is a laptop and it's almost continuously in use.

Since we also home school, our situation is similar to yours. Since two are in college, we technically only homeschool one now. The other two just have tons of homework.

[Patrysha]

Yeah I'm not so sure this qualifies as homeschooling so much as schooling at home. It's more bookwork and computer work than I would include if I were in charge of the curriculum...but I don't know that I could handle work and traditional homeschooling.

We'll see how it works out. The eldest is a bit lazy...brilliant when he wants to be, but he's grown lazy in the past few years of school because he hasn't been challenged. We tried both local schools and neither of them had the staffing or the knowledge/experience to deal with him. My own husband had trouble with that in a classroom situation.

The middle son is a hard worker no matter where he is or what he is doing. He's already getting into a good routine.

[orion_joel]

Funny you mention number of computers. Because here the computers really do out number the people living here.

I have two computers i use, 1 desktop, and 1 laptop. My mother and brother both have laptops, they use predominantly, and both have desktop computers that are no longer in use. My father has two computers and a laptop. Plus i have at least 2 computers that are not working, at the moment. So all up 7 computers in use and another 4 not being used, for 11 in total.

This is probably quite abnormal, i would expect, however i am thinking of adding another laptop, a smaller netbook style one. Just have to decide which one i actually want to go with.

[vangogh]

I'm one person and I have four laptops, though one needs a new motherboard before it will do anything. I only work on one of them. I keep all my old ones just in case or if I ever do come up with a good use for them.

[cbscreative]

I was thinking Joel might be a contender for the "geek king" position, but vangogh once again saved his reputation and keeps his position of power :D

[Patrysha]

Yeah, we're not quite in contention to win that honor for this house. Just one per person at this point.

I was very tempted to take them up on the leasing offer at the school which would have put it at 7 live computers. But then I saw them, and they all had the old style monitors so I passed. We can buy and keep computers for just a little more than they are leasing them out for.

So we have five live computers and 3 almost dead ones (they work but are so old that no one will go near them)

[bacterozoid]

It's good to keep a 2:1 computer to people ratio. My wife and I have 4 computers...and between them we're running 4 different operating systems: Ubuntu, OSX, Windows XP, Windows Vista. :)

[Business Attorney]

My wife made me get rid of some of my old computers, so we are down to five working computers for 4 people. I took my second newest laptop to the office for a temp to use and have buried two older laptops in drawers someplace, so I am not counting those. I also stopped my son who was being sent by my wife to set my 1984 IBM PCjr (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PCjr) on the curb, so that computer is safely back in the attic being saved for posterity.

[rezzy]

I guess Ill weigh in here, although I am nothing against the others. We have two laptops. and one desktop.

She wants a netbook and we want a media center pc, That will be our dvr, and music player thing.

[vangogh]

Steve I'd have more computers (working or not) around here if I could. I'll take other people's old computers and parts of computers. I've even thought of buying old ones at garage sales.

I really only use the one though. The older ones are there in case this one has a problem. I should probably do something with them though. Hook them up as a file server or local web server or something to get more use out of them.

[KristineS]

One person = one laptop.

I do not win the geek crown on this one.

[Dan Furman]

we have 5 computers here (two of us). Two desktops, and three laptops.

Plus (just in terms of wireless stuff - not including phones):

2 Ipod Touch's
X Box 360
Playstation 3
Wii
2 Nintendo DS's
1 PSP

Do I win???

Wife and I are very geeky - both love games, too.

[orion_joel]

If we are extending this to other electronics, i can add a little here. Have the following as well

X Box 360
PSP
Playstation 2
1 original Ipod
2 ipod shuffles (1 original and 1 of the new smaller slip on ones)
1 Creative Zen MP3 player

Additional to this i have wanted a Nintendo DS for a while, just have not got around to buying and the new lower price on the Playstion 3 in the new model configuration they have released in Australia is also temping me there.

[vangogh]

I don't do as well on the accessories I think. I have a Playstation 2 and an iPhone. I do have a variety of routers and dsl modems and plenty of spare everything if that counts.

[bacterozoid]

Does a couple dozen organized and labeled drawers of various components like LEDs, microcontrollers, switches, etc. count for anything? :D

[cbscreative]

I've got a few spare parts, cables, and various items (many outdated) stored away "just in case" but I obviously offer no competition to you guys.

[vangogh]

Does a couple dozen organized and labeled drawers

Organized? Labeled? I'm not familiar with those words :)

Sometimes I'm amazed I can find anything. Somehow I instinctively know which pile something is in. Until I'm actually looking for it, of course.

[orion_joel]

I know that feeling Vangogh, I know exactly where everything is unless i need to find it.

However sometimes i think it comes down to some sort of guidance. As i can spend an hour looking for something, that i know i have seen recently, and just cannot place it. Then i will realize looking is getting me no where, and will just stop and close my eyes and focus my thoughts on the object and where i saw it in my mind. So often this leads me to finding it in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. There is something to be said about removing the visual stimulus from your mind, it can greatly increase your mental ability to visualize what it may be you are looking for.

[vangogh]

I do something similar. Most of the time things actually are where I think they'll be. It's those few that you really, really need that aren't. I always know it's here though, and somehow I always managed to find what I'm looking for.