The Regret of God Genesis 8

The striking think about the Genesis story is that God seemed to be a God of the moment. In other words, He looked down and saw the evil in the world and "And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart." (Gen 6:6)

Genesis 8:21, the God of the moment speaks again:

When the Lord smelled the pleasing odor [a scent of satisfaction to His heart], the Lord said to Himself, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination (the strong desire) of man's heart is evil and wicked from his youth; neither will I ever again smite and destroy every living thing, as I have done.

i can't help reading this and feeling that what's there is God reacting. God acts and reacts to us. now i know Calvinists are coming out of their skins reading this observation since the idea of a God who regrets, reacts and changes his mind is a sylogism that doesn't square with their doctrine. I don't have an an answer for this theological quagmire other than to say that the concept as I read it is that creation was God's divine and glorious experiment. An experiment that he either could not or would not predict.

lightning rod anyone???