Hal Stern, VP & CTO in Sun Services, 15 year Sun employee and
proud wearer of the "Snowman" moniker. How did I come
to identify so closely with Frosty? First, for many years
I was the resident snowman in Sun's New York City office,
putting on the Frosty costume in time for the children's
holiday party each year. Second, I proudly wear jersey
#8 on my ice hockey uniforms - a number I've worn since
1982, in honor of the Pittsburgh Pirates' Willie Stargell.
But the confluence of nicknames occured when playing
in a golf tournament with Scott Gomez of the New Jersey
Devils. After picking up on the first three holes
after 8 strokes, Gomer commented "You're the snowman
today". When a professional hockey player gives you
a nickname, it has to stick.
Playing the part of Frosty taught me two useful life lessons:
Never wear a costume
on the subway. There are rarely pockets for your
MetroCard, and even if you grip it tightly between
two of your three gloved fingers, it's hard to
squeeze the oversized head through the turnstile.
Life imitates comic art when your head spins 90
degrees as your carrot nose whacks the entry turnstile,
propelled by 250 pounds of sweaty engineering mass.
Don't take off your head in public, particularly
if small children are present. Even when the
temperature inside the costume reaches 100 degrees,
and you'd trade a week's vacation for a cold bottle
of water, don't remove your head except behind
closed doors -- without glass windows. Hearing
"Frosty's dead!! His head fell off!!" will quickly
dispell any holiday cheer you might have created.
Playing the part of Frosty taught me two useful life lessons:
Posted by jjmahe on October 02, 2004 at 10:27 AM EDT #