This Question and Answer interview is intended to be a fun series targeted at well-known community members whom most, if not all of you have most likely "met" here on geekhack. If you have username suggestions for further interviews, please add them in your comments. If you want to see some questions added for future interviews, please type them in your responses as well! (Can't guarantee that all requested questions will be added, as keeping the overall interview length reasonable is important for respondents.) This week, by popular request, I present to you an interview with Leslieann--a very long-term forum member (who even had a stint as a moderator here) and an expert on seemingly any topic 
.Previous interviews may be found here:
Question & Answer interview with Leslieann:
Please let us know what motivated your geekhack.org username or else what it means to you, if it's not Top Secret information.I read this book years ago, it was made famous because of someone carrying it while he killed someone else who was famous. I hated that book, but there was a character… Oh wait, nope, I just hated the book and the characters in it.
How did you get into the keyboard hobby? Stories or anecdotes are welcome.I learned on older systems that used mechanicals, but by the time I was able to purchased my own system they had all gone to domes. I forgot how good old keyboards were, but I did know the one that came with my system was terrible, so every time I was in a store with keyboards I would try them all. I’m pretty sure I ended up with a BTC dome with sliders (IBM I think) and used it for years before it got some liquid damage. Unfortunately they changed it to a crappy rubber dome at some point, so the copy of it I bought was just as bad as my first keyboard. I went back to trying everything I could find in stores.
One day I was in a used computer store and they had a crate of old keyboards; they were free if you bought a computer, or a dollar, but just ask and they would give you one. They had crates of them, so I dug through and what did I find: a handful of Model Ms. A few weeks later my brother dug out another, and I planned on going back for more. Of course it didn’t take long before someone realized what they had and we never found any more. Later, when I upgraded my system with a motherboard that no longer had a PS2 port (or maybe I was building my first Hackintosh?) I needed a USB adapter, and this is when I found gh (which was still relatively new) and DT.
What's your main area of interest in the keyboard hobby: the looks, the feels, the customization process (DIY or combining keycap sets with various keyboards), endless variety of keycap sets, artisans, ergonomics, anything else?The feels, I can be on a keyboard for most of the day, sometimes all day, so I want something nice to use. I'll throw on some nice caps to dress it up but I'm not going to spend $200 on a set of key caps, I'm way too practical for that. Not that much of this is really practical.
I don't really see this as a hobby so much as a means to and end, even if I don't see there being a true end game.
Show us a picture of your favorite keyboard [that you own] with a brief descriptionHere is an older pic of my Filco.
Shiny and new, this was the first paint job after I did some work on the case, and by the time you see this, it will be back to something like this.:
I don't know if I have a favorite, but this is what I use the most. It started as a Filco MJ2, but other than stabs and pcb there is nothing remaining of the original keyboard (I have the parts in a box). It just works better all around than the others. I’d shelve it tomorrow if I found something I like better, but that goes for everything technological that I own. This is partly why I don’t see there being an “endgame” keyboard--technology marches on, your endgame keyboard today may be surpassed tomorrow by something new.
What is your current "daily driver" keyboard(s)? Also with photographs, if it's not the same board as aboveI use the Filco on my desk, and while I have a few others, most are in parts or have a problem, some caused by me, some not. I typically use my Vortex Race for my test bench, when it it cooperates.
Wish list or dream keyboard(s) or keycap sets?I've come to the conclusion that the only way I can get exactly what I want is to make it myself so I just invested in some equipment to try and do just that.
I have most of it figured out (Magicforce 68 layout with f-keys, rgb and maybe Alps switches), but I also want to experimenting with different materials a bit. I have a theory that a lot of why we like the aluminum is due to the stiffness and resistance to sliding around, and less about the actual weight, so I want to try using exotic woods, carbon fiber, titanium and/or magnesium to look nice while decreasing the weight and use stickier feet to keep it from wandering around the desk. And before anyone says it, yes, I know magnesium is dangerous to machine.
Favorite keyboard switchBuckling Springs (BS) and possibly Alps (It's been a while since I used Alps but I remember them fondly).
I love tactile switches, if it wasn't for the noise, hysteresis and size of the keyboard, I would still be using one of my Model Ms.
Favorite keyboard layout/size:I like small, but I need keys.
While I like the 75% layout, apparently I'm a sloppy typist, and due to the lack of space between them I tend to accidentally brush F keys with my nails when hitting num keys. It also looks and feels cramped, but mostly it just doesn't work well for me, I find. Which is a shame since I've spent so much on them before I finally got it through my head it doesn't work for me.
I love the Magicforce 68 layout, but I need F keys. I use all but about 6 keys on a TKL semi regularly, and when I was still playing FPS games I used every single key on a TKL and Ten Key, and I will probably do similar as I get better with CAD. Anything smaller means adding function layers, that can mess with shortcuts which I use a lot of or just add too many function layers to remember.
Any guilty-pleasure keyboard type or size, or layout that you would never be caught using? (at least outside the secret privacy of your hidden typing shrine, like an old shiny Razer BlackWidow or a very pingy Model M) I actually have a Black Widow Ultimate, it's in parts and has no switches.
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I've never hidden that I have one. I didn't hate it and I think it was unfairly maligned when it came out for the wrong reasons. There were good reasons, just not for the reasons they should.
Guilty sizes and layouts? I learned pretty quickly not to follow keyboard trends, I use what works for me. This goes back to me thinking of it as a tool to be used and less a hobby I guess. The closest thing to this is probably my Gh60. I got in on the Gh60 original group buy because it was cheap and I wanted to try it. By the time it arrived (thank you to those who managed to ship those out!) I had already figured out it wouldn't work for me. I've never even soldered switches into it, despite how it looked in my case build thread. It may get re-homed soon.
Favorite plate material or lack thereof and whyI subscribe to race car theory on this: make the chassis extremely stiff and use the suspension (or switches in the case) to control things, which is how it should be, since you cannot control PCB and plate flex evenly across the entire keyboard. If you want it consistent you have to have a consistent base to work from.
I don't really have a favorite, so long as it's stiff and doesn't ping. This is an area I want to experiment with when I make my own.
What is your current mouse?On the desktop I have a Logitech G900, on my laptop I have a Logitech Anywhere2 and I keep a spare MX Performance and G700 nearby for use when working on other computers.
Any ergonomic / desk organization preferences?Preferred and actual are two different things. I like clean, but it never is. A clean desk is the sign of a deranged mind, or at least someone with too little to do. I prefer a deep desk: back when we used CRT monitors I would stick my monitor on a stool behind the desk in order to give me depth. These days I mount them on a wall and pull the desk out bit. It’s not a vision thing, it's so I can sit closer to the desk and rest my arms on it. I hate shallow desks and feeling cramped.
I use a stick on mousepad (Razer Sphex), which sits pretty flush on the desk. It's nice as it doesn't collect dirt or mess with the keyboard, it slides well and it's easy to clean.
Please share your favorite drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) or snackMexican Coke, which has been harder and more expensive to find lately.
We'd love to learn about your other hobbies, if you wish to shareI love technology and making things so when I can combine the two, it's even better. That's why I got into 3d printing--it's a mix of both. Most of my other hobbies have kind of fallen by the wayside due to work, but I'm also into home renovation (there's almost nothing I haven't done to a house), aquariums, and old cars. There is nothing like driving an old car or truck, they are a feast for the senses.
I also like to travel, I've been to 17 states and two other countries and that doesn't even count layovers and customs. I often hear people say they want to go see some city in another country but they haven't even explored their own state much less visited any others. I have lots of clients who have never left their home state despite some being only 10 miles from a border, and I once had neighbors in their 70's who had never been more than 30 miles from home. And we wonder why some people in the US can't understand the others in it.
I've said this on here before, travel doesn't have to cost a lot, jump in your car and couch surf, with social media you probably know people all over the country who would lend you a couch for a night or two.
Got any pets? If so, let's see their photo(s)!I've kept fish for much of my life but I don't have any at the moment, I was planning on moving so I took down my tanks and sent the fish off to the local store to find new homes, and then didn't move. I've had pretty much every type of freshwater and saltwater fish in your local fish store and then some. I also had a reef tank for a bit. but you have to be really dedicated to it and plan long term goals to really make the most of it.
I hope to restart one of my tanks with freshwater in the next month, and I plan on getting an octopus soon.
Any advice for people who are just starting out in the keyboard hobby? Start cheap to figure out what you want. Switches and layout is important, and you can only figure that out through experimentation, and understand that just because it's expensive/rare/exclusive/fancy doesn't actually make it better.
Closing words:Get out and do things, see new places, do new things, make stuff.
