Double check with your school's international office. You can start the OPT anytime within 60 days of graduation, which should fill the gap between now and 10-1-06 (assuming you are officially graduating in Aug). So you can start your OPT from 10-1-06 till end of 09-2007. Then next year at 4/1/07, you can apply for the H1b starting from 10-1-07. The good thing for OPT is that you don't need an employer at the time of application. H1 does reqire an employer,and actually filed by the employer.