In Ubuntu, the default .bashrc skeleton file looks for a .bash_aliases file in your home directory when you log in and sources it. So if you just create a .bash_aliases file and put any aliases you want in it, it should be sourced automatically when you open a new bash shell (no need to log out of desktop and back in, just open a new terminal). Here's the relevant part in the default .bashrc file:

# Alias definitions.

# You may want to put all your additions into a separate file like

# ~/.bash_aliases, instead of adding them here directly.

# See /usr/share/doc/bash-doc/examples in the bash-doc package.



if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then

    . ~/.bash_aliases

fi