In The Beginning

I am such a people person. I LOVE people. I love interacting with them, talking, and creating.
Yes. Creating people. Otherwise known as characters. There's been a recent media frenzy that has inspired a storyline in my brain. It will not leave me alone. (I think this happens a lot to writers.)
One time there was a photo of a journalist in the paper. I saved it because he looked like someone I would like to write about. I was in church one Sunday and sat behind the "perfect" family. Oops! Story idea. What if someone came and ripped away everything they believed in.
You never know what will be an inspiration. The beginning of a 400 page novel.
Now some of these inklings go nowhere. There is a lot of tension in the beginning idea itself, but then nothing really happens to move the story forward. But it's fun imagining.
How about you? Where do your story ideas come from. And if you're not a writer, what type of beginnings do you like? What catches your attention?