bash not using my .bashrc file ????

ok here is what i did to customize my terminal settings. open up a terminal window and that should dump you right in your home dir.

type:
pico .bash_profile

then hit return, this will open up pico and an empty file. I put this in that file and then saved my changes (this changes my prompt to what i like too):

# ~/.bash_profile

# Get the aliases and functions
if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
. ~/.bashrc
fi

PS1='-----------------------------\n\n\h(\u):\w \n\d \t (-\#-) $ '

then i created a .bashrc file by typing:
pico .bashrc

and then putting my alias' and what not in that file. logging out and back in will reload the files, or you should be able to type:
source .bash_profile

good luck.

What am I missing ???
It's actually a somewhat tricky issue.
If you read the bash man page ('man bash'), in the section on startup files, it explains which files are read when.
The tricky part is that there are two types of shells: "login" shells and "non-login" shells, and bash reads different files depending on the type of shell.
A "login" shell reads ~/.profile but not ~/.bashrc
A "non-login" shell reads ~/.bashrc but not ~/.profile

A new Terminal window starts a "login" shell and hence reads ~/.profile but not ~/.bashrc
The situation is reversed for xterm (under X11).
It seems (I haven't tried it) that the same is true for the terminal windows opened by PathFinder.