Welcome to My Page

You get the best effort from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, 

but by building a fire with them. 
     - Bob Nelson

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. 
     - Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

My greatest fear in life is forgetting what its like to be a kid.

     - Me 

    Hi, my name is Nick and I am from Indianapolis, Indiana.  I am a first year medical student at St. George's University in Grenada, West Indies.  I have a B.S. in General Health Science from Purdue University in 2002 and a B.S. in Clinical Laboratory Science from Indiana University in 2003. I am also a certified Medical Technologist. 

    Our schedule is very different than US med schools, so here's a link to my med school calendar. I am only in Grenada for 1 1/2 years and then i spend 1/2 year on St. Vincent and finally return to the US to complete the last 2 years in clinicals. The school has a different affiliated hospitals, mostly in NY, NJ, and CA, but i want to do my clinicals at our hospitals in Michigan.

    I love to travel and i've gone to some really neat places like Ecuador and Chile, as well as other places in the US and in the Caribbean. I love the outdoors and especially enjoy backpacking and camping, though i don't get to do those as much as i would like. For spring break 2003 i went back to Ecuador on a medical mission trip with the Timmy Foundation.  Our group of 18 pre-med students from IU and Purdue, 2 doctors, and 1 nurse set up a mobile clinic on the outskirts of the capital, Quito.  I was there in 1998 as part of a church mission trip and was anxious to return.   Medical mission work is something I am sure I will continue to do throughout my life. And this summer i'm going to Honduras with a program through St. George's. I'm sure i'll come back speaking lots of español!

    People often ask me what kind of a doctor i want to be. Despite the rumors, i really don't want to be an OB-GYN. For now my answer is that i want to be a pediatric oncologist. The reasons for that specialty are too complicated to explain here, so just ask.

    When i finally receive my M.D. I would like people to call me "Dr. Nick." But have no fear, I will be nothing like the  Dr. Nick on the Simpsons, although he is a funny guy. But if you knew me

 before i became a doc, then you can just call me "Nick" and add the "Dr." when we're in front of patients. 
 
 

 I worked last summer in the chemistry department of the lab at Wishard Hospital - the "County General" of Indy. It was reallly interesting and i learned alot. I'm a night shift kind of person.  

  I also volunteered at Riley Hospital for Children in the Cancer Center. I figured it was the best way for me to find out if  a peds oncologist is what i want to do. This was the second time i volunteered at a hospital. When i was going to Purdue, i volunteered in the ER at St. Elizabeth medical center for 2 1/2 years. That is before they hired me on as an ER secretary (night shift, of course!). That taught me lots of medical terminology and practice in reading dr's handwriting. 
 

    Well that's about it about me. Feel free to read below to learn more about me. Hopefully i won't scare you off. Thanks for stopping by and drop me a line. Hablo español.{:-]

Pictures

My "Mass" Emails From Grenada

     9-29-03  11-26-03  2-9-04  4-23-04

Links

Pictures of Grenada 5  - Post-1983 invasion/rescue mission

Pictures of Grenada 6

My Stats

Email: firecrafter93@yahoo.com

 (i don't check this very often, so sorry if it takes awhile for me to reply, but hey, do you really think i'd put my personal email on here?)

Age: 24 

Birthdate: March 8, 1980

Height: 6'0"

Hair Color: Blond

Eye Color: Blue

Marital Status: Single (but looking for that "special" someone)

                 "Citius, altius, fortius" is a Latin phrase meaning "swifter, higher, stronger", which Baron de Coubertin borrowed from Father Henri Martin Dideon of Paris.  Dideon was headmaster of Arcueil College, and used the phrase to describe the athletic achievements of students at the school. He had previously been at the Albert Le Grand school, where the Latin words were carved in stone above the main entrance.

If you urinate when swimming in a South American river, you may encounter the candiru. Drawn to warmth, this tiny fish is known to follow a stream of urine to its source, swim
inside the body, and flare is barbed fins. It will remain firmly embedded in the flesh until surgically removed.

Nicolas

Here's what my name means, according to some webpage. (its pretty close to the truth) (My full name is Nicolas, yes, without the H. This spelling really isn't that uncommon in the world, only in the US.) 

As Nicolas you have a great love of nature and the out-of-doors, and could  have a desire to be in an occupation which takes you outdoors and involves you with the products of the earth. All the finer things of life and beauties of nature  are an inspiration to you and you are attracted to the mysteries of nature.  Difficulty in expression results in your being too positive, blunt, and candid in speech. Although you are easily offended by others, you do not show it. You crave affection and understanding, but rarely find it as others do not understand you and accuse you of being cool and aloof. The average person would never  realize the true depth of your nature. A very individual, independent person, you live within your own thoughts. The insecurity you experience from limited verbal expression and social ease results in a jealous possessiveness and suffering through frustration, repressed emotion, and self-consciousness. This name would cause tension affecting the eyes, teeth, sinuses, ears or throat troubles; there could also be sensitivity in the heart, lungs, and respiratory organs, and frequent headaches.