diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index a3510ae3d5..1b48361a0d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -870,29 +870,29 @@ jobs:
     - name: Test ONNX Runner (WEBGPU)
       run: WEBGPU=1 PYTHONPATH=. python3 test/external/external_test_onnx_runner.py
 
-  osxremote:
-    name: MacOS (remote metal)
-    runs-on: macos-15
-    timeout-minutes: 10
-    env:
-      REMOTE: 1
-      REMOTEDEV: METAL
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout Code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Setup Environment
-        uses: ./.github/actions/setup-tinygrad
-        with:
-          key: macos-remote
-          deps: testing_minimal
-      - name: Check Device.DEFAULT and print some source
-        run: |
-          python -c "from tinygrad import Device; assert Device.DEFAULT == 'REMOTE', Device.DEFAULT"
-          python -c "from tinygrad import Device; assert Device.default.properties.real_device == 'METAL', Device.default.properties.real_device"
-          DEBUG=4 python3 test/test_tiny.py TestTiny.test_plus
-      - name: Run REMOTE=1 Test
-        run: |
-          python3 -m pytest test/test_tiny.py test/test_jit.py test/test_subbuffer.py test/test_graph.py test/test_multitensor.py test/test_tensor_variable.py
+  #osxremote:
+  #  name: MacOS (remote metal)
+  #  runs-on: macos-15
+  #  timeout-minutes: 10
+  #  env:
+  #    REMOTE: 1
+  #    REMOTEDEV: METAL
+  #  steps:
+  #    - name: Checkout Code
+  #      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+  #    - name: Setup Environment
+  #      uses: ./.github/actions/setup-tinygrad
+  #      with:
+  #        key: macos-remote
+  #        deps: testing_minimal
+  #    - name: Check Device.DEFAULT and print some source
+  #      run: |
+  #        python -c "from tinygrad import Device; assert Device.DEFAULT == 'REMOTE', Device.DEFAULT"
+  #        python -c "from tinygrad import Device; assert Device.default.properties.real_device == 'METAL', Device.default.properties.real_device"
+  #        DEBUG=4 python3 test/test_tiny.py TestTiny.test_plus
+  #    - name: Run REMOTE=1 Test
+  #      run: |
+  #        python3 -m pytest test/test_tiny.py test/test_jit.py test/test_subbuffer.py test/test_graph.py test/test_multitensor.py test/test_tensor_variable.py
 
   amdremote:
     name: Linux (remote)
diff --git a/tinygrad/opt/swizzler.py b/tinygrad/opt/swizzler.py
index f4f82ad075..9c7047b27a 100644
--- a/tinygrad/opt/swizzler.py
+++ b/tinygrad/opt/swizzler.py
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ view_right = merge_views+PatternMatcher([
   # apply view after reduceops
   (UPat(Ops.REDUCE_AXIS, src=(UPat(Ops.VIEW, src=(UPat(GroupOp.All-ALWAYS_CONTIGUOUS, name="src"),), name="v"),), name="r"), reduceop_view_right),
   # apply view after elementwise ops
-  (UPat(GroupOp.All-{Ops.SINK, Ops.REDUCE_AXIS}, name="root"), elementwise_view_right),
+  (UPat(GroupOp.All-{Ops.SINK, Ops.REDUCE_AXIS, Ops.LOAD, Ops.STORE}, name="root"), elementwise_view_right),
   # merge axes for double reduce (invert of SPLIT_REDUCEOP=1)
   (UPat(Ops.REDUCE_AXIS, src=(UPat(Ops.REDUCE_AXIS, name="r1"),), name="r2"),
    lambda r1,r2: r1.replace(arg=(r1.arg[0], r2.arg[1]+r1.arg[1])) if r1.arg[0] is r2.arg[0] else None),
diff --git a/tinygrad/schedule/grouper.py b/tinygrad/schedule/grouper.py
index 2477da5263..66063c0246 100644
--- a/tinygrad/schedule/grouper.py
+++ b/tinygrad/schedule/grouper.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ from tinygrad.helpers import all_int, prod, unwrap, dedup, DONT_REALIZE_EXPAND,
 from tinygrad.shape.shapetracker import ShapeTracker
 
 ALWAYS_CONTIGUOUS = {Ops.CONTIGUOUS, Ops.ASSIGN, Ops.COPY, Ops.BUFFER, Ops.BUFFER_VIEW,
-                     Ops.CONST, Ops.BIND, Ops.DEVICE, Ops.MSELECT, Ops.MSTACK}
+                     Ops.CONST, Ops.BIND, Ops.DEVICE, Ops.MSELECT, Ops.MSTACK, Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL}
 
 # **** Grouper decides which of the UOps realize
 
diff --git a/tinygrad/schedule/kernelize.py b/tinygrad/schedule/kernelize.py
index d35200adb0..5a7ade255c 100644
--- a/tinygrad/schedule/kernelize.py
+++ b/tinygrad/schedule/kernelize.py
@@ -150,18 +150,11 @@ create_kernels = PatternMatcher([
 
 # **** fix kernel AST
 
-add_buffer_ops = PatternMatcher([
+early_buffer_ops = PatternMatcher([
   # LOAD
-  (UPat(Ops.BUFFER, name="x"), lambda ctx,x: UOp.load(UOp(Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, x.dtype.ptr(x.size), (), ctx.index(x)).view(x.st),)),
-  # STORE (except for meta ops)
+  (UPat(Ops.BUFFER, name="x"), lambda ctx,x: UOp(Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, x.dtype.ptr(x.size), (), ctx.index(x), tag=1)),
+  # no SINK for meta ops
   (UPat(Ops.SINK, src=(UPat(Ops.CONTIGUOUS, src=(UPat(GroupOp.Meta, name="x"),),))), lambda x:x),
-  (UPat(Ops.SINK, src=UPat(GroupOp.All-{Ops.STORE}), name="sink"), lambda ctx,sink:
-   UOp.sink(*[UOp.store(UOp(Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, (s:=x.base).dtype.ptr(ctx[i].size), (), i).view(s.st), s) for i,x in enumerate(sink.src)])),
-  # passthrough ASSIGN
-  (UPat(Ops.ASSIGN, name="x"), lambda x: x.src[1]),
-  # VALID
-  (UPat(Ops.VIEW, src=(UPat.cvar(),), name="self"),
-   lambda self: UOp.where(UOp(Ops.VALID, dtypes.bool, (UOp(Ops.VIEW, arg=self.st),)), self.const_like(self.base.arg), 0)),
 ])
 
 def check_load_st(glbl:UOp, view:UOp):
@@ -175,6 +168,16 @@ def check_load_st(glbl:UOp, view:UOp):
                      +colored("   - a += a.T\n", "red")+colored("   + a += a.T.contiguous()", "green"))
 
 fix_kernel_ops = PatternMatcher([
+  # add the LOAD
+  (UPat(Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, name="x"), lambda x: x.replace(tag=None).view(x.st).load() if x.tag is not None else None),
+  # STORE (except for meta ops)
+  (UPat(Ops.SINK, src=UPat(GroupOp.All-{Ops.STORE}), name="sink"), lambda sink:
+   UOp.sink(*[UOp.store(UOp(Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL, (s:=x.base).dtype.ptr(s.st.real_size()), (), i).view(s.st), s) for i,x in enumerate(sink.src)])),
+  # passthrough ASSIGN
+  (UPat(Ops.ASSIGN, name="x"), lambda x: x.src[1]),
+  # VALID
+  (UPat(Ops.VIEW, src=(UPat.cvar(),), name="self"),
+   lambda self: UOp.where(UOp(Ops.VALID, dtypes.bool, (UOp(Ops.VIEW, arg=self.st),)), self.const_like(self.base.arg), 0)),
   # remove CONTIGUOUS/DEVICE from kernel AST
   (UPat((Ops.CONTIGUOUS, Ops.MSELECT), src=(UPat.var("x"),)), lambda x: x),
   (UPat(Ops.VIEW, src=(UPat(Ops.DEVICE),), name="view"), lambda view: view.replace(src=())),
@@ -193,10 +196,6 @@ replace_globals = PatternMatcher([
 
 def fix_kernel_ast(k:UOp) -> UOp|None:
   if k.arg.ast.op in GroupOp.Meta or all(s.op is Ops.STORE for s in k.arg.ast.src): return None
-  # replace global memory ops with the BUFFER they write to
-  ast = graph_rewrite(k.arg.ast, replace_globals, bottom_up=True, name="replace globals")
-  # push views to edges
-  ast = graph_rewrite(graph_rewrite(ast, view_left, name="Main View Left"), view_right, name="Main View Right")
   # replace buffer with define_global + add load/store last
   bufs = []
   for s in k.src:
@@ -204,9 +203,15 @@ def fix_kernel_ast(k:UOp) -> UOp|None:
     # traverse back through MSELECT and MSTACK. HACK: 0 branch of MSTACK only
     while s.op in {Ops.MSELECT, Ops.MSTACK}: s = s.src[0]
     bufs.append(s)
-  ast = graph_rewrite(ast, view_left+add_buffer_ops+fix_kernel_ops, bufs, bottom_up=True, name="replace buffer")
+  # replace global memory ops with the BUFFER they write to
+  ast = graph_rewrite(k.arg.ast, replace_globals, bottom_up=True, name="replace globals")
+  ast = graph_rewrite(ast, early_buffer_ops, bufs, bottom_up=True, name="replace buffer early")
   if ast.op is Ops.SINK and not all_same([x.device for x in k.src]):
     raise RuntimeError(f"all buffers must be on the same device: {tuple(b.buf_uop.buffer for b in k.src)}")
+  # TODO: move these to codegen
+  ast = graph_rewrite(ast, view_left, name="Main View Left")
+  ast = graph_rewrite(ast, view_right, name="Main View Right")
+  ast = graph_rewrite(ast, view_left+fix_kernel_ops, bottom_up=True, name="replace buffer")
   return k.replace(arg=Kernel(ast, k.arg.metadata))
 
 create_ast = PatternMatcher([(UPat(Ops.KERNEL, name="k"), fix_kernel_ast),])
diff --git a/tinygrad/uop/ops.py b/tinygrad/uop/ops.py
index 1dfdaeb857..ecf3abb0b1 100644
--- a/tinygrad/uop/ops.py
+++ b/tinygrad/uop/ops.py
@@ -154,8 +154,8 @@ class UOp(MathTrait, metaclass=UOpMetaClass):
       sz = cast(PtrDType, self.dtype).size
       return ShapeTracker.from_shape((sz,)) if sz > 0 else None
 
-    # hack for PTX, CASTing the ptr loses the shape
-    if self.op is Ops.CAST and self.src[0].op is Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL: return None
+    # hack for PTX, CASTing the ptr loses the shape. even worse hack with tag
+    if self.op is Ops.CAST and self.src[0].op is Ops.DEFINE_GLOBAL and self.src[0].tag is None: return None
 
     # otherwise we get the shape from sources
     if not (src_sts := [x.st for x in self.src if x.st is not None]): return None