Here are some of the codes that will help retrieving information about the current or selected store.
Load store object with below code. This will load current store by default unless you pass store id.
$store = Mage::app()->getStore(); // see below for magento core function
Today I was going crazy because whenever I tried to update customer information from admin it was redirecting me to admin dashboard. It was working perfectly on previous server and on my local. After debugging for a while I couldn't find the solution for the issue at all.
Our client wanted to integrate mailchimp with magento. So I dig for extension and found this awesome free magento extension called mageMonkey. I installed it through magento connect using key: http://connect20.magentocommerce.com/community/Ebizmarts_MageMonkey