Pic included. Laptop stuck in gray screen w spinning icon

Hi, my MacBook is from 2008 and I've only ran into this problem this one time. I shut down my laptop as usual this morning and when I came back home, I turned it on only to have it stuck at the infamous grey screen w the spiraling icon. Here's a link to a pic of what turns up when I hold down command +v
http://p.twimg.com/AjQRvOoCAAA8LaP.jpg
Any input would be greatly appreciated :(

Try Safe Boot.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1455
At the bottom of the page there are other clickable links for more info.
Hope it helps.

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