kalleth

class Foo < ActiveRecord::Base

  after_initialize :do_stuff

  def do_stuff
    self.parameter = "string" if self.parameter.nil?
  end

end

kalleth

class Account < ActiveRecord::Base  
  has_many :users
  accepts_nested_attributes_for :users

  serialize :account #If you want to store the recurly account, you need to serialise the object

  validates_presence_of :company, :on => :create, :message => "can't be blank"

  # Before_create will be called once only 
  before_create :create_external_account