[jQuery] Getting previous value from the drop down

[jQuery] Getting previous value from the drop down


Just starting to explore JQuery....
What I am trying to achieve is to compare previous value & selected
value of a drop down and then display a message. I am stuck as to how
I can retrieve previous value before the made the selection. Here is
what I got so far:
jQuery(document).ready(
jQuery("#status").change(function(){
alert(" You are changing status to :" + this.value);
});
})