Dissertation Damnation

I hope that this is a post I can look back at years from now (will this place even last that long?) and laugh.  But for now, trying to come up with ideas for my dissertation has been a process of racking my brain [for hours, days, weeks], finally coming up with ideas, then realizing [hours, days, weeks] that someone else has come up with the idea.  Sometimes as a product that they sell to make money.  Sometimes as an article in JAMA.  Not yet as something that I can work on.