 ~/rails/apps/dcid $ rails c --sandbox
Loading development environment in sandbox (Rails 4.0.2)
Any modifications you make will be rolled back on exit
irb(main):001:0> user = User.new(name: "", email: "mhartl@example.com")
=> #<User id: nil, name: nil, email: nil, citizen_number: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, password_digest: nil>
irb(main):002:0> user.email
=> "mhartl@example.com"
irb(main):003:0> user.name
=> ""
irb(main):004:0> user.name="Bob"
=> "Bob"
irb(main):005:0> user
=> #<User id: nil, name: nil, email: nil, citizen_number: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, password_digest: nil>
irb(main):006:0> user.name
=> "Bob"
irb(main):007:0> user.valid?
  User Exists (0.1ms)  SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE LOWER("users"."email") = LOWER('mhartl@example.com') LIMIT 1
  User Exists (0.1ms)  SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."citizen_number" IS NULL LIMIT 1
=> false
irb(main):008:0> 


~/rails/apps/dcid $ rails c
Loading development environment (Rails 4.0.2)
irb(main):001:0> user = User.new(name: "", email: "mhartl@example.com")
=> #<User id: nil, name: nil, email: nil, citizen_number: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, password_digest: nil>
irb(main):002:0> user.email
=> "mhartl@example.com"
irb(main):003:0> user.valid?
  User Exists (0.2ms)  SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE LOWER("users"."email") = LOWER('mhartl@example.com') LIMIT 1
  User Exists (0.1ms)  SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."citizen_number" IS NULL LIMIT 1
=> false
irb(main):004:0> user.name
=> ""
irb(main):005:0> user.name= "Bob"
=> "Bob"
irb(main):006:0> user.valid?
  User Exists (0.1ms)  SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE LOWER("users"."email") = LOWER('mhartl@example.com') LIMIT 1
  User Exists (0.1ms)  SELECT 1 AS one FROM "users" WHERE "users"."citizen_number" IS NULL LIMIT 1
=> false
irb(main):007:0> 


Without VALIDATIONS:
/rails/apps/dcid $ rails c
Loading development environment (Rails 4.0.2)
irb(main):001:0> user = User.new(name: "", email: "mhartl@example.com")
=> #<User id: nil, name: nil, email: nil, citizen_number: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, password_digest: nil>
irb(main):002:0> user.email
=> "mhartl@example.com"
irb(main):003:0> user.name
=> ""
irb(main):004:0> user.name = "Bob"
=> "Bob"
irb(main):005:0> user
=> #<User id: nil, name: nil, email: nil, citizen_number: nil, created_at: nil, updated_at: nil, password_digest: nil>
irb(main):006:0> user.valid?
=> true
irb(main):007:0> user.save
   (0.1ms)  begin transaction
  SQL (13.4ms)  INSERT INTO "users" ("created_at", "updated_at") VALUES (?, ?)  [["created_at", Sat, 15 Feb 2014 15:40:30 UTC +00:00], ["updated_at", Sat, 15 Feb 2014 15:40:30 UTC +00:00]]
   (147.4ms)  commit transaction
=> true
irb(main):008:0> 

irb(main):008:0> user
=> #<User id: 1, name: nil, email: nil, citizen_number: nil, created_at: "2014-02-15 15:40:30", updated_at: "2014-02-15 15:40:30", password_digest: nil>
irb(main):009:0> 


irb(main):009:0> user.reload
  User Load (0.2ms)  SELECT "users".* FROM "users" WHERE "users"."id" = ? LIMIT 1  [["id", 1]]
=> #<User id: 1, name: nil, email: nil, citizen_number: nil, created_at: "2014-02-15 15:40:30", updated_at: "2014-02-15 15:40:30", password_digest: nil>
irb(main):010:0> user
=> #<User id: 1, name: nil, email: nil, citizen_number: nil, created_at: "2014-02-15 15:40:30", updated_at: "2014-02-15 15:40:30", password_digest: nil>
irb(main):011:0> 
irb(main):011:0> user.name
=> "Bob"
irb(main):012:0> 
