so I have my .profile set up as such

##
# DELUXE-USR-LOCAL-BIN-INSERT
# (do not remove this comment)
##
echo $PATH | grep -q -s "/usr/local/bin"
if [ $? -eq 1 ] ; then
    PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
    export PATH
fi

# Aliases
ALIAS=~/.alias
export ALIAS
.$ALIAS

# begin .alias

alias del="rm -i"
alias dir="ls -al"
alias search="grep"
alias edit="vim"

You need a space between the . and $ in .$ALIAS

. $ALIAS

Also; the shell may be having trouble expanding the tilde, so specify it thus:

ALIAS=$HOME/.alias

Check that you don't have a .bash_profile (or .bash_login) if you're using bash, or it'll ignore .profile altogether - check the "INVOCATION" section of the bash manpage for more.

EDIT: Here's the pertinent section from the manpage
Cheers
ZB

OMG thank you zazzybob, I made the changes you said and I works perfectly