Always keep a backup probe in your toolbox.

Oh man, this is making me remember something. If the hose looks fine, check the actual pipe nipple it's clamped onto. I've seen those get a tiny groove worn into them from the clamp biting down over the years. The seal breaks on the metal, not the rubber. You can sand it smooth if it's not too deep, but sometimes you just need a new piece of pipe.

Okay but "a solid sleep mask and some decent earplugs" is a huge gamble. You can't block out the person who comes in drunk at 3am and turns on all the lights, or the one who has a 5am alarm that goes off for ten minutes. That stuff wrecks my next day. The savings are real, but so is the cost of being too tired to enjoy those fancy meals. For me, a basic private room is the real experience, because it means I can actually function.

Cleaning up the mess" sounds dramatic. It's just some duplicate content, not a disaster.

Honestly I've had the same paste last for years in builds that aren't overclocked. It doesn't just go bad on a set schedule. I mean if your temps are fine there's no reason to mess with it. Maybe it's just me but replacing it every year seems like overkill. The guy's point might be that a good application should last the life of the build for most normal users.