Day in the Life of an Idiot

I make split pea soup occasionally, but I do it in the simplest possible way, by buying a couple of those Manischewitz tubes, adding water, and simmering it several hours. At the end I put in some cut-up ham (very not kosher, of course), and that's it. I can't remember if there's a separate "flavor packet" in those (mostly salt and MSG, I'm guessing), but if there is, I only add half of it.