Natan made a condenser mic a couple of years ago. It's fab. It looks like shitte aesthetically (hell, it doesn't even *look* like a mic) but it sounds awesome. We used it to record our CD two years ago (jeez, was it really that long ago???). Picked up everything like a dream.
And I relate to the "arm candy" thing. Except sometimes, I actually know what I'm doing in a music/computer store. ;)
Most of the people I spoke to at GW used to work for Mars. I asked the girl that works there (the one) if she used to work for Mars, and she told me she was surprised at how many times she was recognized. I told her as the only female working at either place, it wasn't that hard. BTW, when you're in there, listen closely to the pages over the PA; they use pretty clever nicknames.