OK, so we’re a little geeky around here, but we just couldn’t resist sharing some of the juicy tidbits in the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book summary of economic activity.

We knew the economy was in bad shape, but thanks to the good people at the regional Fed banks we have now learned:

1. New York’s Broadway theaters saw a drop-off in demand starting in mid-October.

2. People who had lost their health insurance following a job loss were cutting back on visits to primary-care doctors. Health care executives said they were worried about that leading to sicker people showing up in emergency rooms with no way to pay.

3. A furniture maker in North Carolina said business had “frozen shut” across the country and across all of his furniture lines.

4. Cotton farmers in the Atlanta Fed’s district reported price declines despite the smallest regional crop in 25 years because of falling global demand.

5. In the Chicago region, milk, hog and cattle prices moved lower, and there were concerns about bankruptcies in the livestock industry.

6. In South Dakota, hunting reserves reported cancellations.

7. Restaurants in the Kansas City region said senior citizens were cutting back, and pointed to losses in retirement income.

8. Legal firms in the Dallas region reported that receivables were slowing and getting more difficult to collect.

9. In Southern California, there were more reports of companies canceling meetings, and tourism and spending dropped sharply in Hawaii.

10. And in Boston, a commercial real estate executive called the credit squeeze “murderous.”

Not all was doom and gloom. A ski resort in Virginia said reservations for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays were somewhat stronger, and in Washington, they’re expecting a record-large flood of tourists for Barack Obama’s January inauguration.

Thanks Beige Book!