BurnettsAhoy Is Back!
AhoyHeads! It’s Mel again. She just crawled out of a pit!
She won’t turn this upbeat post into a whine, but suffice it to say, the brilliant idea to turn doctors into corporate serfs was a big flop. They should’ve seen that coming. After seven years of intellectually satisfying neurological practice, gratifying teaching, and challenging leadership roles, Mel found her perimenopausal butt on fire one day after a grueling 8-hours of writing notes, patient messages, emails, performance reviews, workflow proposals, and manifestos. After working 11 days in a row. On a Saturday. People, she is way too old for this shit!
So she has hung up her reflex hammer once again. Greg, too, is getting tired of his acoustics and intellectual property consulting. He may be hanging up his headphones. In short, Mel and Greg maxed out their ability to work in offices that are incapable of changing latitudes.
So what do crazy, perimenopausal GenX women who crawl out of a pit and send their two little brilliant birdies off to college in different states do these days? Buy another boat, and plan to cast off with her husband…perhaps even around the world! Yep!
And what do Mel and Greg of BurnettsAhoy do? Take their own advice, buy a used Leopard 48, and rename it…
The Intrepid Jerry

An unusual word is it? Mel will save you from googling. Here is the definition of intrepid: fearless; adventurous (often used for rhetorical or humorous effect).
And the Jerry, well, he just looks like a Jerry to us. We have good eyes! Plus, we can say, “Dammit, Jerry!” whenever Calamity occurs! (credit: Parks & Recreation)
Now that Mel has finished deconstructing and then rebuilding her old website because WordPress and Bluehost suck and they assume your ability to give a crap about acronyms like PHP and DNS is infinite like theirs, she can concentrate on updating you all about all of the fun boat prep! And trying to write shorter sentences! Woo-hoo!
For those who cling to hope that Mel will return to neurology-ing some day, who knows? There are no criteria right now. Well, there is one criterion. Mel will return to practice only AFTER AI figures out what a reflex hammer is!
Prompt: Draw a female neurologist triumphantly holding a REFLEX HAMMER.
No, A good REFLEX hammer. A Troemner Reflex hammer? A Queen Square Reflex Hammer? OMG. Why all the ball-shaped brains, AI? Why?? Okay, that is an otoscope.
See below for a quick glimpse of our land lives over the last few years. We’ve raised wonderful kids, said goodbye to our dear boat cat Gypsy and both our Dads, got a lot of family time, and enjoyed our beautiful house and airplane in Omaha. But our life plans are like the ocean, with apparently 7-year-long waves. We are at a trough once again. Time to ride it upwards!
- Mel’s hair reflects how long her to-do list is. In this pic, it is out of control!
- Mel will miss her fun work family!
- Mel is so in sync with her med students, she even dresses like them!
- Mel at work during COVID. You can hardly tell Mel is worried she might die from doing her job.
- Mel’s friend Luka dons a PAPR mask so he can check a COVID patient’s reflexes. YES THEY ARE IMPORTANT.
- Greg finally sees Mel during daylight after a long call week.
- Mel geeks out by going to see Dr. Glaucomflecken (TikTok Doctor Superstar)
- We will miss our Nebraska Prairie home!
- Greg and Mel enjoy Husker volleyball and the Omaha Supernovas!
- Greg crews on The Amazing Marvin!
- Greg manages to find plenty of tools and projects on land.
- The kids love each other so much after growing up on a boat!
- Allie is off to Connecticut College to study Biostatistics and Neuroscience! STEM rocks!
- Isaak is up at University of Minnesota, studying computer science!
- Isaak Will Travel!
- We spend a summer trip in Upstate New York.
- The kids are not put off by traveling in cramped quarters!
- We rent a canal boat on the Erie Canal. Isaak’s sea legs return quickly!
- The kids are never free from traveling — via plane!
- We soak up the sights on land. America is vast and beautiful.
- We now have two cats. Princess Penelope PhD (in cuteness) is working on her research into how to attain maximal cuteness!
- Penelope’s contemplative pose. A+
- Penelope worked on this pose for hours when the family was out of the house…
- Penelope likes the water! Will make a great boat cat!
- Catzia, our other cat, prefers high places. Too clumsy for boat!
- Catzia tries to be cute like Penelope. She’s getting there.
So exciting for you to start this new chapter in your life! I love reading your blogs! Congratulations! Happy Sailing!
I’m so excited to have a cameo in your blog!!! Wishing you safe travels and look forward to living vicariously through you!
I’m looking forward to following your adventures!!
Wahoo! Congrats Mel & Greg!!
Sooo good to hear from you again Mel! Come and visit us in Australia!
On my way! 😉
I soooo can’t wait to read about your adventures again! I’m thrilled for you both! 😍
Good to hear from y’all! Since you swallowed the anchor, we moved on our boat for six years, four years in the Caribbean, and sold her. It got too hard to keep up with a full-time job while full-time cruising. We miss it!
Cheers, RickG
If fortune is kind, you can always go back some day! 😉
I hope I didn’t unsubscribe!
You are on our list! Nice to hear from you! Hope you are enjoying life! 🙂
Enjoy Mel & Greg!