Powershell/Sharepoint anti flooding script - powershell

Question

Extreme powershell newbie here. I appreciate any and all help.
I'm trying to put together a simple anti-flooding script to work with Sharepoint/Powershell. Need it to look at a datetime in a field and compare it to the current datetime then stop execution if within 5 seconds of the last submittal. The method im using now always seems to evaluate to true.
#get system datetime (output format - 06/12/2014 07:57:25)
$a = (Get-Date)
# Get current List Item
$ListItem = $List.GetItemById($ItemID)
$DateToCompare = $ListItem["baseline"].AddMilliseconds(5000)
if ($DateToCompare -gt $a)
{Break}
#set variable to field
$ListItem["baseline"] = $a
#write new item
$ListItem.Update()
Break

Answer 1

I don't have Sharepoint access so I cannot fully test.
Can you verify the datatype of "baseline" attribute?
($ListItem["baseline"]).getType().Name
Are you sure that 5000 millseconds is really being added?
Write-Output "NOW: $($curDate) BASELINE: $($DateToCompare) DIFF: $( ($curDate - $DateToCompare).TotalMilliseconds )"
Why use break rather than let the evaluation naturally end? Below is an alternative way you might restructure you code.
#The difference in Milliseconds acceptable
$threshold = 5000
#Get current date, the formatting depends on what you have defined for output.
$curDate = Get-Date
#Get current list item from SP
$listItem = $List.GetItemById($ItemID)
# Get current List Item's baseline
$DateToCompare = $listItem["baseline"]
Write-Output "NOW: $($curDate) BASELINE: $($DateToCompare) DIFF: $( ($curDate - $DateToCompare).TotalMilliseconds )"
if ( ($curDate - $DateToCompare).TotalMilliseconds -le $threshold ){
#set variable to field
$ListItem["baseline"] = $curDate
#write new item
$ListItem.Update()
} else {
#Outside of threshold
}

Answer 2

So it turns out the script as I gave it above was functional. The issue was the time I was pulling under the (Get-Date) function was the server time (central), rather than the local time (eastern).
#bring server time up to eastern time
$a = (Get-Date).AddMilliseconds(7200000)
# Get current List Item
$ListItem = $List.GetItemById($ItemID)
#take baseline time and add 5 seconds
$DateToCompare = $ListItem["baseline"].AddMilliseconds(5000)
#stop if script has run in the last 5 sec (loop prevention)
if ($DateToCompare -gt $a)
{Break}
#stop if the status hasnt changed
if ($ListItem["baselinestatus"] -eq $ListItem["Status"])
{Break}
#get current activity status
$currentstatus = $ListItem["Status"]
#get current contents of log
$log = $ListItem["Log"]
#append new entry to existing and write it to the log
$newentry = $log + "<br>" + $a + " - " + $currentstatus
#set variable to field
$ListItem["Log"] = $newentry
$ListItem["baseline"] = $a
$ListItem["baselinestatus"] = $currentstatus
#write new item
$ListItem.Update()