I think what I was missing was the rewrite base and also a few posts back I tried their rewrite code too. So I'm not sure if it was that paragraph of code or the rewritebase or both that did the trick.
[code:1]##
# @version $Id: htaccess.txt 1005 2005-11-13 17:33:59Z stingrey $
# @package Joomla
# @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
# @license
www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU/GPL
# Joomla! is Free Software
##
Options +FollowSymLinks
#
# mod_rewrite in use
#
RewriteEngine On
# Uncomment following line if your webserver's URL
# is not directly related to physical file paths.
# Update YourJoomlaDirectory (just / for root)
RewriteBase /
#
# Rules
#
#
# ProfileRedirector V 1.3
#
# Make sure your host allows option override
# and has ModRewrite installed
# activate Rewrite enginge
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([^/]+)/?$ /index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user='$1' [L]
# RewriteRule ^(.*) index.php?cb_username=$1
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !.(jpg|jpeg|gif|png|css|js|pl|txt)$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*) index.php[/code:1]