[rubyfan]

Agree, love this syntax

  obj = nil
  obj&.gsub("f","g") # => nil 
  obj = "food"
  obj&.gsub("f","g") # => "good" 

Unfortunately this is not likely second nature and will continue to bite us, especially where our expectations about AR models are not well thought out. A wrapping class for nillables might force safe access of AR attributes.