Based on your "annealing program" I would STRONGLY recommend that you do some research on your own before entering into a forum discussion on annealing. One thing that you can be sure of in a forum discussion is a lot of opinions based on personal experience (oh, and controversy if you're "doing it wrong"). Be sure you have the facts necessary to sort out what will be workable for you and your personal needs.
Both Northstar and Glass alchemy have extremely detailed annealing instructions on their websites. You should read them. In fact, now would be a good time. Here's a link:
http://www.nortelglass.com/downloads...nealChtRev.pdf
Here's another:
http://www.glassalchemy.com/relieving_stress
recommended additional reading: Contemporary Lampworking by Bandhu Scott Dunham
Some basics:
(For clear borosilicate)
•Annealing temperature: 1050 degrees F
•Strain temperature: 960 degrees F
Typically, most manufacturers recommend that you hold Borosilicate glass at annealing temperature for 1 hr per 1/4" of thickness, followed by a "soak" at just below the strain point. That's probably the 950 hold you've been told of. The length of this soak varies according to the thickness and complexity of the piece you are working, generally ranging from 50% to 100% of your annealing time.
Ultimately, once your piece has been properly annealed, your choice of ramp down and soak times becomes a matter of personal risk tolerance. Some people anneal and then crash the kiln. They do run the risk of thermally shocking the piece, which can lead to damage, but it usually works out fine and the piece is not any less annealed than it would be otherwise.
Others subscribe to a multi-hour regime of controlled cooling. This is fine too. In the case of large pieces like telescope reflectors, where thousands, even millions of dollars can be riding on safely cooling the piece, many months may be spent in cooling phases.