The people who use our boards.

Who are you, and what do you do? What do you like to do outside of work?

I'm Ben Calo. I own and operate a consulting firm called Calo Consulting. I help organizations manage environmental and sustainability challenges, which lately has focused heavily on environmental or supply chain data. I'm currently on contract with the State of Arizona Quality, managing strategic initiatives such as predictive driving water analytics.

Outside of work, I am an avid jogger. Living in Arizona allows me to jog year-round; though the summers require a bit of time-shifting due to the heat. I also like traveling, and my favorite destination so far has been Turkey. Sadly, I may have burned my wife out on visiting ancient cities, so our next trip will assuredly be to the seaside instead of trying to visit ruins.

What hardware do you use?

I have a workstation and a Surface Pro 8, but often need to work with client hardware, so I have a CalDigit Element hub that allows me to easily swap between machines. I tend to use two 24" monitors for work.

And what software?

The majority of the time I'm just using MS Office, Trello, and the like, but do have stints with GIS applications and use Claude Code to automate tasks that would have been painful just a few years ago.

What’s your keyboard setup like? Do you use a custom layout or custom keycaps?

My keyboard setup is almost the standard Moonlander layout, but I've relocated a few keys to make things more like what I've been used to being a standard QWERTY keyboard user. I do tent the keyboard slightly to give my hands a more natural position.

I don't have any custom keycaps since I haven't been able to find any that quite match the feel of the standard Moonlander caps. I did switch out the switches though. I use a mix of Cherry MX Brown and Silent Red. The main letter keys are Reds, and the rest are Browns so I get tactile feedback on keys in the thumb cluster, for layer switching, or that are in the center.

You know, I often read that switching from a standard keyboard to a Moonlander was hard. It was hard. It was like typing with mittens for the first few months, but I eventually got used to it, and now I am reluctant to go back. I can easily switch from Moonlander to standard if I need to though. It's not a big deal to use a regular keyboard. It's picking up a different game controller. Muscle memory just takes over.

What would be your dream setup?

I'm very close to my dream setup. One of these days I'll upgrade to two 27" 4K monitors though.