I saw this nifty contraption a few weeks back, and I knew I had to have one:

How cool is that? It makes smiley toast! What better accessory for the SmileyBuzz offices than a smiley toaster?

For some reason, I couldn't find one anywhere in the US. Apparently us Yanks like our toast sans-pictures (unless it's the Virgin Mary or Elvis). But eBay came to the rescue, and I found a pretty good deal from a UK seller: £1 for the toaster, £8 shipping. About US$20. Of course, coming from overseas, it would take a while. So I spent the time alphabetizing my jams and jellies that would soon be spread on my edible smiley works of art.

Finally, the big day came, and the package was waiting on my porch when I got home from work. I tore open the paper before even taking off my coat. It looked great. Shiny, unused, and ready to burn some happiness into some unsuspecting white bread. I placed it on the counter, grabbed some bread out of the breadbox, and picked up the cord to go plug it in.

What the hell? Oh no! It's British, you fool! It's not going to work here in the States!

What a disappointment. No smiley toast for me.

Now I'm on the lookout for a power adaptor that will allow me to plug it in, but I can't seem to find one, nor am I willing to drop another $20 just to cover up my stupidity. Oh well.