hey mike, lsphinx means when ur working with normal faces, there is actually no button which u click to change between local and global, not like extruding anyway
there are 2 ways to do it:
1. double click on ur move tool and itll open up the tool box, there when you rotate and move things, you have the choice of local, global etc
2. i notice ur using 4.5, in 4.5 there are preset marking menus, i think its ctrl+W+right hold i think, then you have local and global options there as well

i know neithers as efficient as the lil box you get when you extrude, but this is as close as ull get