Transfer files to MacBook from external drives & MacPro without FireWire

I just realized my Macbook (13 inch aluminum) doesn't have a FireWire port. WHY? I can't believe I didn't notice when I bought the thing. I assumed that a FireWrire port was standard like USB. I know that I can transfer files from my MacPro Desktop using migration assistant. However, it doesn't let me pick and choose which files to transfer. Is the best plan to transfer everything all at once and then delete what I don't want from the MacBook? I've also got a lot of individual files & folders on external FireWire drives that I'd like to copy to my MacBook. Is there a way to hook up an external FireWire hard drive to my MacBook? Are there FireWire to USB adapters? Am I going to have to transfer these files via USB memory sticks, CD-R's & DVD-R's? Or maybe it would be a better idea to dump them on my MacPro, use Migration assistant to copy it all at once and then pick and choose what to keep on my MacBook.
I know I've got a lot of questions. Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I assumed that a FireWrire port was standard like USB.
It is, just not on the aluminum Macbook.
It can be done with USB, but it is slower and less reliable.
The hard drive is fairly easy to remove on the aluminum Macbook. I would remove it and install it in an external Firewire enclosure temporarily to transfer your files quickly and reliably, then put the drive back in the Macbook.
Firewire allows two operating modes. One is asynchronous, like USB which suffers from latency, bus contention and collisions.
The other is isochronous mode, and it lets a device carve out a certain dedicated amount of bandwidth that other devices can't touch. It gets a certain number of time slices each second all its own. The advantages for audio/video should be obvious: that stream of data can just keep on flowing, and as long as there isn't more bandwidth demand than the wire can handle, nothing will interfere with it. No collisions, no glitches.

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