1.   Despite the bustle of security personnel, rescue workers and the media, downtown Oklahoma City seems eerily quiet, Lankard said.

2.   Microsoft was a fledgling public company, and the sleepy downtown seemed to get sleepier at night.

3.   To many, the downtown seemed an isolated outpost of old buildings, inhabited by vagrants and sailors.

4.   Every barstool downtown seemed to be filled, and several thousand gathered at the indoor McNichols Arena to watch on big-screen TVs.