If USB scares you look at a SATA DOM. My unfinished but soon to be published hardware guide is going to include recommendations for SATA DOMs.
I've ordered a 32GB SATA DOM (future plans and stuff for 9.3). The current limitations of 2GB on the boot device are about to get blown out of the water. If you want to be a forward planning person go with a SATA DOM and go reasonably big (I'd consider 16GB+ to be almost over the top) but I have plans for the 32GB. :D I won't say more about what 9.3 has to offer, but I will say it's going to be pretty damn amazing and those of us with only 2-4GB USB sticks may be disappointed. ;)
Anyway, I bought it from
http://www.memorydepot.com/ssd/listcat.asp?catid=SATADOM-MV-3ME&prodid=DESMV-32GD06SC1QC and I bought the DESMV-32GD06SC1QC. I won't say that things have gone well as I ordered it on August 8th and it's *still* not here. In fact, I emailed them today and they told me that it should be mailed before the end of the week. Well, that's great but since they are in Canada it will take more time to get through customs. So I might have ordered it on the 8th and I'll get it the following 8th.

I got the standard "its an industry problem since it has to be shipped from Taiwan" but to NOT put ETAs on their website or something is just crap. If they had told me that they weren't going to get a 32GB for a month but a 16GB is available right now I would have gone with that. Their website really needs to show what they have in-stock, what isn't in-stock and ETAs.
Unfortunately the number of places where SATA DOMs are available in the variety as what memorydepot.com offers is virtually non-existent. Ebay was literally the second-best option and it was far more expensive as well as had very limited brands. Kingspec seems to dominate ebay and it seems to be reasonably priced. But, I have some concerns for the brand. I have no idea if they are good quality or not and no way to prove if its a knock-off or not.
Anyway, I just hope my 32GB works perfectly. I really don't want to know how long it will take to do an RMA with them.
Keep in mind that I am not vouching for that model. It may or may not have unforeseen problems that I'm not aware of. But I've put money where my mouth is because I think it stands a very good chance of working properly for my purpose (boot device for FreeNAS).