SRAM GXP bottom brackets have no serviceable parts. If you took it apart to "service" the bearings, that's what killed it, not anything else.
Worth re-emphasizing. You don't clean these things. And a replacement BB is so cheap it hardly matters. But they should last a while under the relatively benign conditions of commuting by bike.
Finally, yes, fenders look frumpy. But I'm not out there to make a fashion statement. I'm out there riding to work, trying to stay cleaner and drier in the process.
In all honesty, everyone who sees you riding a bike to work thinks you're a drunk who lost your license. Frumpy fenders won't spoil that image.
When will people learn that people care about aesthetics totally independently from their concerns about what others think? What everyone who sees you riding a bike to work is thinking isn't the point. Personally, I don't have strong feelings about the appearance of fenders, and I want a drier butt, so my commuter has fenders. But I do generally care about how my bikes look. Because I like to have a nice-looking bike. It pleases me. For someone who does think fenders are ugly, well, that's going to be require some compromise one way or another. But you have to stop thinking all aesthetic concerns disappear when you realize other people don't care. No one cares if I walk down the street in sweat pants, either. But I care.