Nicholas is one of the certification junkies out there!!
I went through a phase of that myself, but got myself into a good 12 step program and have been certification free for over a year now!
I guess when someone else is paying for the exams and your employer rewards certs (mine gives a $500-$1000 cash bonus for certifications achieved) you might as well - they do give an oportunity to see a few corners of a technology that you might otherwise miss and most certs can be passed by simply reading a decent book.
I wouldnt place too much emphasis on certs when employing people though - I'm a certified Lotus Domino Administrator but wouldnt know my a$$ from my elbow on a Domino server these days since I havent touched one for years!
If anyone cares - my list is as follows - I actually find it a bit embarassing that I've done so many of the damn things - but without the incentive of an exam I'm crap at reading books and staying up to date with stuff!. Theres no way I'd do the certs if I had to pay for them myself!!!
IBM Certified Advanced Application Developer - Lotus Notes and Domino 6
IBM Certified System Administrator - Lotus Notes and Domino 6
IBM Certified Solution Developer - XML and Related Technologies
IBM Certified Enterprise Developer - WebSphere Studio, V5.0
Sun Certified
Java Programmer
Sun Certified Business Component Developer
Sun Certified Web Component Developer
CompTIA IT Project+ Certified Project Manager