David Wright and Anand Raman on Sandcastle

David Wright and Anand Raman join Carl this week to show us Sandcastle, a set of tools for generating Microsoft documentation of managed reference code. David and Anand take us step by step through the building process and describe each function and option in detail.

http://dnrtv.com/default.aspx?showID=84

<10 Foot Development for Media Center/>

Every copy of Windows Vista Home Premium and above has Media Center on it. Have you run your copy? Turns out that you can develop your own "10 foot apps" (that can be run with a remote from your couch) with Visual Studio Express or even Notepad. Scott talks to Charlie Owen to find out how.

http://hanselminutes.com/default.aspx?showID=100

 Miguel Castro on Membership Providers

Our good friend Miguel Castro is back on dnrTV talking about Membership in .NET. Miguel takes his previous Membership show to new heights with custom providers that extend the current Microsoft model.

http://dnrtv.com/default.aspx?showID=83

<Vista 64 - Developing on 64-bit Vista Ultimate/>

Scott adds some much needed detail to last weeks show. Is developing on 64-bit in .NET tricky? What gotchas do you need? Who should move to 64-bit? Recorded from his hotel room the night before Scott goes to work at Microsoft.

http://hanselminutes.com/default.aspx?showID=99

 Scott Hanselman on Windows PowerShell

The Hanselmaster is back on dnrTV with a great command shell tool that should have come with Windows: PowerShell. Add an additional free extension library and you'll be amazed at the powerful scripts you'll be able to write.

http://dnrtv.com/default.aspx?showID=82

Well, it's been a while since I blogged about my Triphasic Sleep Experiment. You can read my first two posts here:

Post 1: An experiment in triphasic sleep (8/23/07)

Post 2: Triphasic sleep update (8/24/07)

Looking back on that second post now, it's funny. I started with "It's been a few days..." Look at the dates. It's really almost 2 days, but I had 5 or 6 phases in that period of time, so it seemed like "a few days."

Update:

My co-hort Brandon Wehn, who was doing the experiment with me, threw in the towel last week. He was oversleeping and rather than keep going through the zombie phase he decided to get some sleep. I can't say as I blame him. This has been tough physically.

I am still going forward with it with moderate success. I have had a few 5-hour phases, and I've always had 3 per 24-hour period, but for the most part I have stuck to it.

However, I have modified my original schedule. It is as follows:

• Phase 1: 2:30 AM to 5:30 AM  (3 hours - 2 full cycles)
• Phase 2: 10:30 AM to Noon (1.5 hours - 1 full cycle)
• Phase 3: 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM (30 minute power nap)

If I'm really tired I will sleep a third cycle at Phase 1.

So what's all this about cycles?  The average sleep cycle lasts 90 minutes. It's a misnomer that we dream during our deepest sleep. In fact, REM (dreaming) occurs in the apex of the sleep cycle (the lightest part). I have pilfered a chart from an article at http://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/psy340/lectures/psy340.09.02.stages.sleep.html that sums up the average sleep pattern:

What this chart does NOT show is that the REM stage gets longer as the night progresses, with the longest period being right before waking, in the 4th to 5th cycle. The idea is to train your body to get the REM sleep it needs without having to sleep as much.

I'm still only getting 5 hours of sleep, but I'm hoping that as I progress, my cycle time will compress, and I'll be able to get more complete cycles in less time.

I've been on the modified schedule now for a few days and I feel OK. I'll let you know how I feel next week.