My old passport had expired, I'm contemplating trips abroad next year (and to Canada, and don't forget, you need a passport to go there now) so it was time to get a new one.  

I couldn't find my old one, so I'd been procrastinating because I knew I'd have to go apply in person.  Then I found out that I could now apply in person at my local city hall, instead of the big passport office downtown.  That was certainly more convenient, but fortunately I found the old one just in time.  After all the horror stories of delays earlier this year,  I thought I might be prudent to pay the extra fee for expediting it to get it in a predicted 3-4 weeks, instead of 8-10.

Well, it just arrived -- in less than two weeks, 8 working days after I mailed the application.   Nice.