If you look closely to all of the transform handles that appear when you do an "Extrude Face" command, there is a thin black line going out from the center, and it ends with a little blue circle

That's the key to this whole thing

If you want, I can write a mel that will do this automaticly for you if you can give me a day or two

I'm working on the VIP Explosions PT 2 right now, so I'm a little busy...sorry...

Lemme know if this helped.