My Own Personal Mentos Commercial

The following takes place between the hours of 11:45am and 1:15pm on Monday, March 30, 2009.

Remember those Mentos commercials of old where someone would be in a pickle, pops in a Mentos (or is Mento the singular form?), and suddenly everything works out. Add the jingle and a big smile while you flash your pack of Mentos and BOOM, you have one of the more popular commercials from the 90's.

So two Monday's ago I had to get to court in Manhattan to make a filing deadline. [Yes, I was playing lawyer.] Early in the morning I was putting the finishing touches on the memos and motions on Wrong Island (Long Island to the rest of you) and spent two hours at Fedex-Kinkos copying, inserting tabs and exhibits, and finally binding the documents. Of course to complicate things, I had to be on Wall Street at 1pm for a networking group meeting (my first meeting with this group).

I got home from Fedkos (for short) knowing I would never make the train I planned for, that would allow me to not rush to the meeting. By the time I showered and suited up, I had to rush to make that next train. That train wasn't getting into Penn Station until about 12:35pm and then I would have to wait for a subway and find my way to this building I had never been to before. I figured worst case scenario I would get to the meeting 5 minutes in but thought the meeting would never start on time anyway.

I took a seat on the train with my iPod trying to catch my breath after a marathon morning. So far things were going okay and at least it wasn't raining! [No, I didn't jinx the weather by saying that.] The train pulled into the Jamaica station where I would have to pick up a connecting train. Sure enough I saw the electronic display indicating that that train was running five minutes late. I immediately call the person who invited me to attend the meeting to let him know there were delays and I would probably be late.

The train finally arrives but next thing I know I'm sitting on the connecting train for another ten minutes not moving. Just my luck. Back to the iPod until we pull into Penn Station. Fortunately I had a MetroCard in my wallet so at least I wouldn't have to stop and purchase a new one. WRONG! I had $1.05 and needed $2 for the ride. So now I had to wait in line at the machines to refill my card. As I go to swipe my card I heard a train pulling in. I ran up the stairs hoping that of the 2 trains that run both uptown and downtown (4 possible trains) the train that just pulled in was mine and praying that the doors were still open.

It was the express 3-train heading downtown! Exactly what I wanted and I made it just in time for the famous "Stand clear of the closing doors please." Not thinking about anything I popped a Mentos (Mento just sounds funny) in my mouth because I needed a little sugar. As I settled into my seat for until the Wall Street stop I realized that I just starred in my own Mentos commerical. All that was missing was the perfect smile and the flash of the Mentos with the label facing the camera.

In case you're wondering I was only about 5 minutes late. The subway stop was right next door to the building I needed to be at and they had just started. Everyone was in the conference room and of course there were no more chairs so a receptionist ran to get one leaving me standing in the corner while they proceeded. It all worked out in the end and I made sure to arrive early to yesterday's meeting. I also was able to make it to court after the meeting and filed the documents just before the filing deadline.

This got me thinking...They obviously still sell Mentos mints and candies but they stopped with the commericals. Why??? Search on YouTube for Mentos commericals and you'll see the old spots and many parodies.

This is my favorite parody which also happens to be a music video from the Foo Fighters (they used to make such creative videos)



[10 points if you tell me why I tagged Scrubs in this post. I know the opening sounds right out of 24.]