We present results from the analysis of X-ray energy spectra and quasi-peri
odic oscillations (QPOs) from a set of observations that samples a broad ra
nge of time variability in GRS 1915+105. We first demonstrate that the freq
uency and integrated amplitude of a 0.5-10 Hz QPO is correlated with the ap
parent temperature of the accretion disk for the majority of observations.
We then show that the behavior of GRS 1915+105 exhibits two distinct modes
of accretion. In the first mode, the QPO is present between 0.5 and 10 Hz a
nd variability in the source luminosity is dominated by the power-law compo
nent. In the second mode, the QPO is absent and the changes in the luminosi
ty are dominated by thermal emission from the accretion disk. We find that
the color radius and temperature of the inner accretion disk are empiricall
y related by R-col proportional to T-col(-2) + const. We discuss these resu
lts in terms of ongoing efforts to explain the origin of both the QPOs and
the hard X-ray component in the spectrum of GRS 1915 + 105.