smiley garbage gnome just keeps smiling

I've read too much Weather.com and now am thoroughly freaked out by Hurricane Irene. 120 mph winds in NYC??? Yikes is all I can say. I wonder how garbage gnome will be in the storm? And also, who gave us garbage gnome? And why has he stuck around for so long?

Maybe there's a metaphor here. Just keep smiling and you can weather any storm. Okay, I'll take that as garbage gnome's message to me.