Thanks, NYC_naturalizer, appreciate it. Well, I guess now we're stuck again with the age old question of what exactly do these numbers truly mean, and which dates (IL, ID, OL, OD) are they referring to? If they mean that everybody with a PD on or before the one listed is now a citizen then I will agree that we're seeing some progress. However, if they mean that everybody on or before the date listed has been sent an IL, then we still have a looooooong way to go.
Well, allow me to speculate. Last month, during the retrogression mess, a number of district offices in California had a N-400 date of mid-July. However, what we actually witnessed was that applicants in late July, August and all the way through October, actually got their ILs (Nimche, MartinAub etc.) So, it may mean that once the DO date shows July, it actually means that the bulk of July applicants have been sent ILs, and many have actually had interviews (and are just waiting for the oath). This is optimistic, admittedly, but I know Santa Ana has been interviewing late July filers in the past few weeks.
However, the pessimist in me, the one who has been waiting for 9 months now, says it will be at least another three months before I receive an IL.