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

Hey, my name is Holden Galusha. I’m the associate editor for B2B magazine Lab Manager, which aims to help scientists and research laboratory professionals “run their labs like a business.” Lab Manager is owned by science media company LabX Media Group, which also owns IFLScience, The Scientist, and several other brands. I help edit the work of our staff writers and freelancers, as well as write articles of my own. I contribute an article or two each issue, usually in the realm of business/asset management, research lab equipment, and lab software/informatics. My associate degree in software development heavily informs my content.

Outside of work, I like…well, writing. Of all kinds. Fiction, poetry, scripts, essays—you name it, I’ve tried it. Naturally, I love reading as well. John Steinbeck is my favorite author for the masterpiece that is East of Eden, so I’m working my way through the rest of his books. I also like Anthony Doerr, author of Cloud Cuckoo Land and the Pulitzer-winning All The Light We Cannot See.

I also really enjoy exploring music (you can always catch me listening to Springsteen) and aim to start a podcast in the near future to continue refining my interviewing skills.

What hardware do you use?

For work:

• ErgoDox Moonlander
• Some generic Dell laptop running, sadly, Windows 11 and not a flavor of Linux
• x3 1920x1080 Dell monitors on VESA mounts. Right now they’re all in landscape, but sometimes I’ll flip one or two to portrait if I’m editing a longer document
• Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones—good headphones are absolutely essential!
• Blue Snowball Microphone for video calls and Zoom interviews with sources and subject matter experts (SMEs)
• Zoom H1n Handy Recorder for in-person interviews with sources and SMEs
• Some Logitech webcam; don’t care enough to look up the exact model

For home:

• I work from home so all the same stuff as work, save for an aging custom PC that I use for VR stuff once in a blue moon
• Oculus Quest 2 and, rarely, an Oculus Rift CV1 that’s somehow still going strong

And what software?

• Microsoft Word for writing and editing
• Google Workspace for email, file sharing, video calls, etc.
• Slack for quick communication with coworkers
• Asana for task management
• Adobe InCopy for proofing our magazine issues before they’re sent to the printer
• Notepad++ for note taking
• Otter.ai for transcribing interviews
• Adobe Dreamweaver for putting together newsletter templates
• Obsidian for knowledge management
• Python IDLE for when I need to throw together an automated script to make my life easier

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

As mentioned, I have an ErgoDox Moonlander. It’s currently outfitted with Kailh Box Jade switches and a Drop + Matt3o MT3 /dev/tty keycap set—my first mech keyboard was an IBM Model M I rescued from a Goodwill for five bucks, so I’ve basically converted my Moonlander into a split, ortholinear Model M.

My current layout is optimized for easy media control and typing obscure characters I frequently use at work, like the micro symbol (µ). I have some updates in mind for it but have yet to implement them…

What would be your dream setup?

More or less what I already have, but with better audio recording equipment like an XLR interface and nice microphones. I would also love to run Linux on my work laptop, but that will never happen with my job’s dependence on Microsoft and Adobe.