Yes. If you go back up to my original post, look at #2. It lays it all out pretty clearly, and has been confirmed various other's replies. Using the dropdown to unlock leaves your wallet kind of exposed while staking, but may be convenient if you need to do a series of quick sends. Unlock it old-school (console command) if you just want to stake safely.
Sweet, on it now. Thanks again!!
'advanced' tip: If at some point you decide to run a "change passphrase" and put crazy special characters in, you will no longer be able to unlock the wallet via console (though settings drop-down unlock will recognize it). You can remedy this by doing a new change passphrase, and sticking to upper-lowercase letters + numbers. *some* special characters may work, but definitely not all. Anyway, long. complex, and random is best, and for god's sake use a password mgr and back up everything, including your password manager database.
These things are important now, but as BC value continues to rise, they will become super-critical. Don't underestimate the potential for trouble. Here's a useful guide to wallet security from cryptobadger if you want additional ideas:
http://www.cryptobadger.com/2013/05/guide-bitcoin-wallet-security/