Get user profile fields in page.tpl.php

Hello,

I would like to display the profile fields profile_firstname and profile_lastname in my page.tpl.php whenever a user is logged in. I 've read several posts about displaying and using profile fields, but can't get it to work.

Currenty, this is in the top of page.tpl.php:

<?php

  global $user;
  profile_load_profile($user->uid);
  //print "<code>" . var_export($user, true) . "

";
?>

This is in the right section of page.tpl.php:

<?php
                    $username   = check_plain($user->name);
                    $profile    = profile_view_profile($user);
                    print profile_view_field($user, 'profile_firstname');
                    print $user->profile_firstname;
                  ?>

As you can see, it tested several ways of outputting the profile field. However, it doesn't work! Any thoughts on what am I doing wrong?